A simple and economic three-step process for producing highly purified Fab' fragments directly from the egg yolk water-soluble fraction.

Although mammals are still the main source of polyclonal antibodies production, the use of egg yolk immunoglobulins (IgY) is increasing, and thus improvement of its safety to reduce undesired reactions is needed. Removal of IgY constant domains by pepsin enzymatic treatment is expected to reduce potential adverse effects derived from the parenteral administration of these antibodies, while also increasing its distribution volume. Current Fab' production requires the previous purification of IgY to be used as starting material.

Critical aspects on traditional antivenom production processes and their optimization by factorial analysis.

Most antivenoms are produced by techniques developed over 50 years ago, with minor modifications. Herein we revise the core of traditional antivenom production processes aiming to optimize key determinants for both consistent antivenom production and the best balance between F(ab')2 quality and recovery. Factorial design analysis revealed that pepsin digestion of 1:3 saline diluted equine plasma for 60 min under pH: 3.