Abstract

Egg yolk immunoglobulin (IgY) is an alternative treatment for the prevention of gastrointestinal infections in pigs, cows, chickens and fish. In our previous report, we preliminarily proved that anti-V. harveyi IgY had effective potential to control luminous disease in black tiger shrimp. However,IgY activity may be reduced or destroyed by gastric conditions, particularly low pH and digestive enzymes. Therefore, it is necessary to find an effective method to preserve the therapeutic function of IgY antibodies during gastric passage. Chitosan-alginate microcapsules have been developed to protect IgY from gastric inactivation. The processing factors included different forms of chitosan and alginate, while a CaCl2 concentration and encapsulation medium was investigated. The optimum results were obtained under the following conditions: High Mw chitosan concentration 0.2% (w/v), medium viscosity alginate concentration 2% (w/v), CaCl2 concentration 0.5% (w/v). The stability of IgY in simulated gastric fluid (SGF, pH 1.2) was greatly improved by encapsulation in chitosan-alginate microcapsules, and retained greater than 90% activity after 2 h exposure to SGF. Less than 10% IgY was released upon the microcapsules’ exposure to SGF for 2 h, and more than 80% IgY was released upon the microcapsules’ exposure to simulated intestinal fluid (SIF, pH 6.8) for 16 h. 

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