Technical information > IgY purification methods


Bulk precipitation methods

  • Ammonium sulfate precipitation (Schwarzkopf and Thiele 1996)
  • Dextran sulfate precipitation (Jensenius 1981)
  • Polyethylene glycol (PEG) precipitation, video tutorial from Journal of Visualized Experiments


A waste disposal should be considered when using the methods below

  • Caprylic acid extraction (McLaren et al. 1994)
  • Chloroform extraction/PEG combined extraction (Polson 1990)
  • Propanol-acetone extraction (Bade and Stegemann 1984)


Commercially available kits and matrixes

These kits have different capacity to process egg yolk.

  • EGGstractTM kit (Promega)
  • EggcellentTM Chicken IgY Purification Kit (Pierce)
  • IMSORB Anti IgY (Biotez)
  • HiTrap® IgY purification (GE Healthcare)


Industrial scale methods

  • Column and ultrafiltration method (Kim and Nakai 1996, 1998)


Recommended Literature

  • Manual containing detailed protocols of IgY purification by different methods as well as trouble shooting. "Chicken Egg Yolk Antibodies, Production and Application" R. Schade et al.2000, Springer-Verlag, Lab Manuals, ISBN 3-540-66679-6.
  • "Isolation and Purification of Chicken Egg Yolk immunoglobulins: A review" B. De Meulenaer and A. Huyghebaert 2001, Food and Agricultural Immunology, 13:275-288.
  • "IgY Technology: Extraction of Chicken Antibodies from Egg Yolk by Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) Precipitation. Paulty et al. (2011). Journal of Visualized Experiments.

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