Abstract: The present investigation is focused to generate chicken Egg yolk antibodies against Salmonella pullorum and their in-vitro characterization. Pullorum disease is leading cause of morbidity and mortality in poultry and highly responsible for significant economic loss. Mortality in such outbreaks may approach 90% if untreated. Treatment primarily is a salvage operation and does not prevent from becoming a carrier. Therefore, the prevention of this disease in breeder level through vaccination is more convenient for the control of vertical transmission. One of the recent researches has revealed that the combination of IBDV vaccine and chicken IgY generated against IBDV was superior in preventing IBDV infection in Broiler chickens rather than using them alone. Based on this recent finding, the chicken egg yolk antibody (IgY) raised against Salmonella pullorum. IgY antibodies were purified by (Polson et al., 1980)  method and Water dilution method followed by DEAE cellulose ion exchange column chromatography. The total IgY concentration was relatively constant, average IgY concentration was 6.62 mg/mL during the immunization period. Titre of IgY antibodies was 1:10000 on 120 th day after first immunization determined by ELISA. The agglutination was observed in both Rapid Slide Agglutination and Micro-titre plate (up to 1:2048 dilutions). It indicated the presence of IgY against S. pullorum. Present study concluded that the generated IgY was specific against S. pullorum whole cell antigen and it could effectively bind with that. The raised antibodies could be used for the passive immunotherapy to protect the young chicks from horizontal transmission of Pullorum disease by improving the immunological strength against infectious disease

A Michael

S Avanthi

S Elakkiya

S Meenatchisundaram

T Diraviyam

T Subbraj

CiteSeerX

International Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances 3(6): 450-454, 2011
ISSN: 2041-2908
© Maxwell Scientific Organizational,2011
Submitted: November 09, 2011 Accepted: November 25, 2011 Published: December 25, 2011
Corresponding Author: T. Diraviyam, Department of Microbiology, PSG College of Arts and Science,
Coimbatore, India, Tel.: +91-09787477488 
450
In vitro Studies of Chicken Egg Yolk Antibodies Generated against 
Salmonella pullorum
1T. Diraviyam, 1S. Elakkiya, 1T. Subbraj, 1S. Avanthi, 2S. Meenatchisundaram and 1A. Michael
1Department of Microbiology, PSG College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore, India
2Department of Biosciences, Nehru Arts and Science College, Coimbatore, India
Abstract: The present investigation is focused to generate chicken Egg yolk antibodies against Salmonella
pullorum and their in-vitro characterization. Pullorum disease is leading cause of morbidity and mortality in
poultry and highly responsible for significant economic loss. Mortality in such outbreaks may approach 90%
if untreated. Treatment primarily is a salvage operation and does not prevent from becoming a carrier.
Therefore, the prevention of this disease in breeder level through vaccination is more convenient for the control
of vertical transmission. One of the recent researches has revealed that the combination of IBDV vaccine and
chicken IgY generated against IBDV was superior in preventing IBDV infection in Broiler chickens rather than
using them alone. Based on this recent finding, the chicken egg yolk antibody (IgY) raised against Salmonella
pullorum. IgY antibodies were purified by (Polson et al., 1980) method and Water dilution method followed
by DEAE cellulose ion exchange column chromatography. The total IgY concentration was relatively constant,
average IgY concentration was 6.62 mg/mL during the immunization period. Titre of IgY antibodies was
1:10000 on 120th day after first immunization determined by ELISA. The agglutination was observed in both
Rapid Slide Agglutination and Micro-titre plate (up to 1:2048 dilutions). It indicated the presence of IgY against
S. pullorum. Present study concluded that the generated IgY was specific against S. pullorum whole cell antigen
and it could effectively bind with that. The raised antibodies could be used for the passive immunotherapy to
protect the young chicks from horizontal transmission of Pullorum disease by improving the immunological
strength against infectious disease.  
Key words: ELISA, IgY, microagglutination, Pullorum disease
INTRODUCTION
Poultry meat is an important food product and the
broiler chicken related industry is an economically
important component of the agro industry. The poultry
meat industry all over the world is growing fastest among
all the meat categories (Chalghoumi et al., 2009). The
industry however is under pressure and faces many
challenges because of infectious diseases. Salmonella
enterica causes a number of significant poultry diseases
and is also a major human pathogen. Younger birds are
more susceptible to infection by Salmonella spp. In
particular Pullorum disease affects only young birds,
which is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in
poultry and highly responsible for significant economic
loss. Most acute outbreaks occur in birds are under three
weeks of age. Mortality in such outbreaks may approach
90% if untreated. Treatment primarily is a salvage
operation and does not prevent from becoming a carrier.
Consequently, do not keep recovered flocks; the usage of
antibiotics is limited. 
Therefore, the prevention of this disease in breeder
level through vaccination is more convenient for the
control of transmission. Because, the serum
immunoglobulins are readily transferred from hen serum
to the yolk of egg, then the chick embryos absorbs
maternal antibodies while development. These maternal
antibodies protect chicks from disease until they
disappear. If alteration in such temporary immunological
protection through maternal immunoglobulins such as
IgG, IgM and IgA accompanies with the infection in
chicks, results in immune suppression (Sander et al.,
1998) and also the vaccination strategy cannot be applied
in broilers due to the short life span of the bird, so there is
a need for an alternative way to combat with the
pathogens.  One of the recent study revealed that the
combination of IBDV vaccine and chicken IgY generated
against IBDV was superior in preventing IBDV infection
in Broiler chickens rather than using them alone (Wafaa
and El-ghany, 2011). Hence, the oral administration of
chicken IgY has drawn attention of researchers. The
present    investigation    is    focused   to   generate  and
Int. J. Anim. Veter. Adv., 3(6): 450-454, 2011
451
characterize the chicken antibodies against Salmonella
pullorum. This could be used for therapeutic and
diagnostic purpose to protect the broiler chicks from the
Pullorum disease. 
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The present research study was carried out during the
period of November 2010 to May 2011 in the Department
of Microbiology, PSG College of Arts and Science,
Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. 
Bacterial antigen: Salmonella pullorum (killed) plain
antigen as a suspension in phenol saline and Salmonella
pullorum coloured antigen (in solution containing 1%
formalin, 1% KH2PO4 and 0.8% NaCl) were obtained
from the Division of Biological Products, Indian
Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Izatnagr, India. The
killed Salmonella pullorum plain antigen in Phenol saline
was washed with saline by centrifugation at 10,000 rpm
for 15 min and the concentration was adjusted to OD
equiavalent to McFarland’s Standard No.2 (which is
corresponding to 3×106 cells/mL). Then the cell
suspension was aliquoted and stored at -70oC for further
use.
Immunization of hens: 21 weeks old white Leghorn
Hens were immunized to obtain Salmonella pullorum
specific IgY antibody from eggs. 1 mL of antigen (0.5 mL
of whole cells suspension (3×106 cells/mL) with an equal
volume of Freund’s complete adjuvant) was injected into
the pectoral muscle at multiples sites. Booster doses were
given at 2wk and 4th wk (Sunwoo et al., 1996). The
presence of specific IgY against S. pullorum in chicken
serum was assessed by slide agglutination method at
specified time interval.  Eggs were collected and stored at
4oC for further use.
Purification of IgY:
Purification by Polson et al. (1980) method: The
antibodies were extracted from egg yolk by the method of
Polson et al. (1980) using Polyethylene and Ammonium
sulphate precipitate method. Then the content was
desalted by dialysis process. The crude fraction of IgY
thus obtained was further purified by DEAE cellulose ion
exchange column chromatography. The protein content of
the purified IgY fraction was determined by the method
described by Lowry et al. (1951). The purity of Chicken
egg  yolk   antibodies   was    checked   by  SDS-PAGE.
Purification by water dilution method (Akita and
Nakai, 1992): The egg yolk was separated from
immunized egg and mixed with 8 volumes of cold
distilled water (acidified with 0.1 N HCl to a pH of 4.0)
and then final dilution was made up to 1: 10 using cold,
acidified, distilled water (pH2.0). After mixing well, the
mixture was adjusted to pH 5.0 to 5.2 and incubated at
4ºC for 12 h. The water soluble fraction) WSF was
obtained by centrifugation at 4,500 rpm at 4ºC for 20 min
and lyophilized. The IgY powder was stored under - 20oC
and used for further studies. The protein content and
purity of the WSF was determined as mentioned above.
Determination of antibody titer by ELISA: Salmonella
pullorum-IgY titre was determined by indirect ELISA
described by Voller et al. (1978). Whole cell antigen
suspension of S. pullorum was coated in the wells using
0.05 M carbonatebicarbonate buffer (pH 9.6) and
incubated at 4ºC for overnight. After incubation the plate
was washed with PBST then the empty sites were blocked
by 1% BSA (200 :L/well) and incubated at 37ºC for 1
hour. Plates were subsequently washed and incubated
with IgY solution (100 :L/well). Finally 100 :L of
diluted (1:1000) rabbit anti-chicken immunoglobulin
conjugated with HRP (Genei Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore) was
added and incubated. Then the plates were washed and
100 :L of fresh substrate was added and the plates were
allowed to stand at room temperature in dark for 20 min.
The reaction was stopped by adding 50 :L of 4N H2SO4
and plates were read at 490 nm in an ELISA reader. All
samples were tested in triplicates (Sunwoo et al., 2000;
Lee et al., 2002).
IgY   specificity   determination:   The   specificity   of
S. pullorum-IgY was determined by Rapid Slide
Agglutination (RSA) and micro-titre plate agglutination
method. Rapid slide agglutination test was done on a
plastic  strip,  20 :L  of  coloured  antigen  and  20 :L of
S. pullorum-IgY were placed and mixed thoroughly by
stirring with the help of applicator stick. Then the slide
was observed for the appearance of agglutination within
2minutes (Muktaruzzaman et al., 2010). 
For microagglutination, the bacteria cell suspension
in Phenol saline (IVRI, Izatnagar) was adjusted to a
desired optical density 0.42 at 620 nm. 10% antibody
solutions (specific and non-specific) were prepared by
reconstituting 0.1 g of freeze-dried antibody powder in
0.9ml of sterile saline. Salmonella pullorum positive
serum (IVRI, Izatnagar) was used as positive control. In
a micro-titre plate three rows were assigned for the test,
0.08ml of sterile saline was added in the first well of each
row and 0.05 mL was added in the remaining wells of
each rows. Then 0.02 mL of S. pullorum positive serum
was added in the first well of the first row (positive
control) and doubling dilution was done by transferring
0.05 mL from the first well to second well, second to third
and so on. The same procedures was repeated in the
second row (test) and  third row (positive control) but
except positive serum, 0.02ml of 10%  S. pullorum-
antibody solution and non specific antibody solution were
used    respectively.   Finally   0.05  mL of bacterial cell
Int. J. Anim. Veter. Adv., 3(6): 450-454, 2011
452
1 15 30 45 60 75 90 105 150 135 150
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
C
on
ce
nt
ra
ti
on
 (
m
g/
m
L
)
Days 
Total lgY concentration 
Lane ‐1 Lane ‐2
1 15 30 45 60 75 90 105 150 135 150
0
Days 
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
A
nt
ib
od
y 
tit
re
 (
O
D
 a
t 4
90
 n
m
)
Serum antibody 
Yolk antibody 
Fig. 1: Total IgY concentration in immunized chicken egg
yolk. it was relatively constant during the
immunisation period
Fig. 2: SDS-PAGE profile for IgY, A single protein band of
high molecular weight (180 KDa) was observed. Lane
-1: IgY fraction purified by Water Dilution; Lane -2:
IgY fraction purified by PEG method
Fig. 3: Kinetics of specific IgY against S. pullorum in
immunized chicken egg yolk estimated by ELISA.
There was a gradual increase in antibody titre with
subsequent booster dose administration
suspension was added to all the wells of each rows and
incubated at 25ºC for overnight. After incubation, plate
was observed the titre was defined as the highest dilution
Fig. 4: Rapid slide agglutination test, clumping was appeared
for IgY corresponding to positive control
of S. pullorum-antibody powder showing agglutination by
comparing with positive and negative controls.  
RESULTS 
IgY from immunized eggs were purified by both PEG
method (Polson et al., 1980) and Water dilution method.
The water soluble fraction obtained by PEG method was
further purified by Iron Exchange Chromatography and
then concentrated by lyophilization. IgY fractions of each
method were subjected to protein estimation to detect
antibody concentration. The concentration of antibodies
increased in the egg yolk was relatively constant during
immunization period, and the average yield of IgY was
6.62 mg/mL (Fig. 1).  
The quantity of antibody yield was higher in the
water dilution method when compare to PEG method. The
molecular weight of the purified IgY’s were confirmed as
180KDa through SDS PAGE (Laemmli, 1970). The
electrophoretic band pattern obtained in this study was
revealed that the purity of IgY was higher in IgY fraction
purified by (Polson et al., 1980) method when compare to
water dilution method (Fig. 2). The titre of antibodies in
the immunized chicken egg yolk was determined by
ELISA, thus indicated that the specific IgY concentration
in the egg yolk was significantly increased when the
chickens received booster doses at regular intervals. High
peak titre of 1:10000 was observed during 120th day of
observation (Fig. 3).
The specificity of Anti-S. pullorum IgY was
evaluated by Rapid slide agglutination and micro-titre
plate agglutination method. The presence of clumping in
the test sample is similar to that of positive control
indicated the agglutination reaction (Fig. 4). It indicated
the presence of specific IgY antibody against S. pullorum.
The agglutination was observed in micro-titre plate up to
1:2048 dilution by comparing with positive and negative
controls.  
Int. J. Anim. Veter. Adv., 3(6): 450-454, 2011
453
DISCUSSION
In India, poultry is the fastest growing segment at
over 15% per annum, compared to the overall meat
industry growth rate of 5% per annum. The broiler
industry is well dominated in southern states in India with
nearly 60-70% of total output coming from these states.
But during the last few years there is an increase in
pathogen loads in poultry farms due to excessive stress on
the birds. This stress could be production stress or
climatic stress which affects directly or indirectly on
immune system of the bird and once immunity goes down
birds easily acquire infection. In recent years Salmonella
has drawn attention of people by emerging as a most
serious threat for the poultry due to their wide spreading
nature, various sources of contamination and developing
resistance against most of the antibiotics. Hence, they are
not only unsafe for human consumption but also cause
huge economic loss to the farmers. As per EU legislation,
from 12/12/2010 if Salmonella is detected in fresh poultry
meat on the market, the broiler industry needs to take
measures to decrease the colonization of the animals and
their environment (Chalghoumi et al., 2009). These
include pre-harvest, harvest and post-harvest measures.
Salmonella enterica causes a number of significant
poultry diseases and is also a major human pathogen.
Particularly younger birds are more susceptible to
infection  by  Salmonella  spp  such  as  S. pullorum and
S. gallinarum. Pullorum disease in young birds is one of
the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in poultry
and highly responsible for significant economic loss in all
the phases of poultry industry from production to
marketing. Many research studies are going on globally to
control the infection and disease in poultry, in which a
recent study by Wafaa and El-ghany (2011) revealed that
the combination of IBDV vaccine and chicken IgY
generated against IBDV was superior in preventing IBDV
infection in Broiler chickens rather than using them alone.
Hence, the oral administration of chicken IgY has drawn
attention of this present research. Therefore, the present
investigation is focused to generate chicken antibodies
against Salmonella pullorum to inhibit its shedding in
broiler chickens by passive immunization using chicken
IgY as feed additives. 
CONCLUSION
Present study concluded that the generated IgY was
specific against S. pullorum whole cell antigen and it
could effectively bind with that. It was determined by
ELISA, Rapid slide agglutination test and micro-
agglutination test. Thus, it may suggest that binding
activity of IgY with surface molecules of S. pullorum
could inhibit its growth. In addition, the generation of
antibodies in the chicken is an economic and feasible
alternative way to obtain large quantity of polyclonal
antibodies than from a similar sized mammal.  As a
whole, IgY against enteric pathogen could be used for
passive immunization in poultry. But, further research is
needed for the assessment of stability of IgY in the gastric
environment of the birds intestinal tract to emphasis the
application of chicken IgY as feed additives in broilers
production. It could help the future generation to use
chicken IgY as an effective therapeutic agent, by which
the poultry industry can provide safe and healthy poultry
meat, which will be free from pathogenic microbial
contamination.
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In vitro Studies of Chicken Egg Yolk Antibodies Generated against Salmonella pullorum

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In vitro Studies of Chicken Egg Yolk Antibodies Generated against Salmonella pullorum

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