Langerhans cell-like dendritic cells in the cornea,tongue and oesophagus of the chicken (Gallus gallus)

Langerhans cells are dendritic leucocytes which reside mainly within stratified squamous epithelia of skin and mucosa. Their visualization requires the use of ATPase histochemistry, electron microscopy for identifying the unique trilaminar cytoplasmic organelles (the Langerhans cell granules or Birbeck granules), and the expression of major histocompatibility complex class II molecules. Following uptake of antigen, Langerhans cells migrate via the afferent lymphatics to the lymph nodes and undergo differentiation from an antigen-processing cell to an antigen-presenting cell. Using the same approach as that employed in previous studies for the identification of chicken epidermal Langerhans cells, we show here the presence of ATPase-positive and major histocompatibility complex class II-positive Langerhans cell-like dendritic cells at the mucosal surface of the eye, tongue and oesophagus of the chicken. Ultrastructurally, these cells qualified as Langerhans cells except that they lack Langerhans cell granules. Thus, as in mammalian skin and mucosa, chicken mucosa contains mucosal dendritic cells with morphological and phenotypical features for the engagement of incoming antigens within epithelium and lamina propria.