Improved purification and yield of the Egyptian snake Cerastes cerastes antitoxin by the use of caprylic acid.

The aim of this study was to obtain anti-snake antiserum by optimizing the conditions of extraction and purification and test its ability to neutralize local myonecrosis. Extraction and purification was achieved through adjustment of the pH, pepsin concentration, time of digestion, and caprylic acid concentration. Our results indicate that the best conditions to obtain anti-snake antiserum from ammonium sulfate fractionated plasma are pH 3.3, 3.5 g/l pepsin, digestion for 90 min at 37 degrees C, and 0.5% caprylic acid. Antiserum purified using this method has greater neutralizing ability of myonecrosis than ammonium sulfate (ammSO4) fractionated product.

Cross neutralization of dangerous snake venoms from Africa and the Middle East using the VACSERA polyvalent antivenom. Egyptian Organization for Biological Products & Vaccines.

This study was performed to assess the ability of polyvalent snake venom anti-serum, produced by the Egyptian Organization for Biological Products & Vaccines (VACSERA), to neutralize several toxic activities of snake venoms, not only of those included in the antivenom mixture, but also some additional venoms of snakes from Egyptian, African, and Middle Eastern habitats. In general, the results revealed that polyvalent snake venom anti-serum from VACSERA is highly effective in neutralizing Egyptian snake venoms, especially Naja haje, Naja nigricolles, Naja pallida, Cerastes cerastes, Cerastes cerastes cerastes, Cerastes vipera, Pseudocerastes persicus fieldi, and Walterinnisia egyptia. The antivenom was also effective against Naja haje, Walterinnisia egyptia, and Bites aritans from Saudi Arabia. High activity was obtained against venoms from Naja haje, Naja nigricolles, and Naja pallida of Sudan, as well as the African Naja melanoleuca, Naja mossambica, Naja naja oxiana, Bites gabonica, and Vipera lebetina. Only moderate effectiveness was obtained with Echis coloratus and Echis carinatus, and the polyvalent antiserum was ineffective against the venom of Naja nivea.

Development of an improved method for production of antiscorpion F(ab')2 fragment of IgG with high yield and potency.

The main objective of the present work was to obtain a stable and highly purified scorpion antitixon, rich in specific antibodies, free of immunologically irrelevant plasma proteins or gross proteins. Our results indicate that the most potent yielded and purified F(ab')2 antivenom preparation was obtained when the first discarded precipitate was washed with 14% ammonium sulphate saline; then after the second addition of ammonium sulphate, the mixture was stirring overnight followed by precipitation of most non-immunoglobulin proteins with the aid of caprylic acid to produce antivenom rich in specific antibodies with higher yield and potency compared to the method commonly used.