Use of egg yolk to determine antibody levels in chickens inoculated with a hemagglutinating duck adenovirus (adenovirus 127-like).

Chickens were experimentally infected with a duck adenovirus that has been shown to be serologically indistinguishable from Adenovirus 127. Sera and eggs were collected at intervals after exposure for antibody determination by the hemagglutination-inhibition (HI) test, the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and the immunodiffusion (ID) test. Egg yolks were processed for use in the serological tests by (a) dilution in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), (b) extraction of the water-soluble fraction with chloroform, or (c) freezing and thawing PBS-diluted yolks and testing the supernatant fluid. HI antibody titers from serum and extracted yolk were similar except during the initial 2 weeks, when yolk antibody levels were low or absent. Chloroform-extracted yolks were suitable material for the HI, ELISA, and ID tests. Heat inactivation of the chloroform-extracted yolk had no effect on titers.