In article <3ers4l$ftl at dns1.NMSU.Edu>, jubongia at nmsu.edu (Juliet K.
Bongianni) wrote:
>> Does anybody know, or has anybody heard of using chickens to
> produce primary antibodies against an antigen? Apparently the chicken can
> be injected with the protein of choice, and then the antibodies can be
> isolated from the egg white?? If anyone knows about this method, or has
> used it, would you please comment on it and the efficiency of this technique.
> Thank you.
> julie
Dear Julie, we are using chikens and they work fine (all they have to do is
to lay eggs, indeed). The tecnique is very fast and simple. You can inject
with your antigen according to your protocol of choice and then recover
your Abs from the egg's YOLK (yellow part, not white) simply by PEG 6000
extractions. Here it is a reference of something done by our lab fey years
ago. If you have problems in getting the paper or if you need some hints
drop me an e-mail.
Gassmann, M., Thoemmes, P., Weiser, T. and Huebscher, U.
FASEB Journal, 4, 2528-2532 (1990).
Have fun with your hens (and remember, if you want to make a cake take only
pre-immune eggs).
G. Maga, PhD Biochemistry
University of Zuerich (CH)
e-mail: maga at vetbio.unizh.ch
