PRODUCTION AND PURIFICATION OF IgY ANTIBODIES AS A NOVEL TOOL TO PURIFY THE NR1 SUBUNIT OF NMDA RECEPTO

Producing polyclonal antibodies (IgY) in

chickens has advantages over those obtained

in other animal models, since they

have been used as a tool for studying

different proteins (NMDA glutamate receptor

in our case, specifically the NR1

subunit). We produced specific antibodies

against expression products by the

alternative splicing of the gene encoding

NMDA receptor NR1 subunit in adult rat

brain. Three peptides corresponding to

the splicing sites (N1, C1 and C2’ cassettes)

were designed, synthesised and used

individually as antigens in hens. Specific

immunoglobulins were purified from

yolks. The antibodies were then used for

purifying the NMDA receptor NR1 subunit

using affinity chromatography coupling

the three antibodies to the support.R