Purification of egg yolk immunoglobulins. A two-step procedure using hydrophobic interaction chromatography and gel filtration.

A two-step chromatographic procedure was developed for the isolation and purification of hen IgY antibodies from egg yolk. The antibodies were completely separated from vitellin and lipids by hydrophobic interaction chromatography followed by gel filtration. Almost no residual yolk proteins, no immunoglobulin aggregates, and no antibody fragments could be detected in the final extract. Moreover, the method described, guarantees the recovery of antibodies of undiminished activity. Although the final yield is somewhat lower than that obtained by an isolation method consisting of two precipitation steps with polyethylene glycol and alcohol respectively, the procedure described is particularly recommended when highly purified antibody preparations are needed.