Immunoglobulins from Egg Yolk: Isolation and Purification

Simple water dilution was employed for the separation of water-soluble plasma proteins from egg yolk granules. An optimum recovery of immunoglobulin Y (IgY, 93–96%) in water-soluble fraction was obtained by sixfold water dilution at pH between 5.0–5.2 with incubation time of 6 hr at 4°C. Among the factors studied, pH was found to be the most important factor affecting IgY recovery. Active IgY of high purity with good recovery was obtained by a combination of several techniques including salt precipitation, alcohol precipitation, ultrafiltration, gel filtration and ion exchange chromatography. Salt precipitation, ultrafiltration, and get filtration is the recommended sequence. Over 100 mg of electrophoretically pure IgY was routinely obtained from one egg.