VMC 221: Veterinary Immunology and Serology (1+1)

STORAGE OF SERUM

• Antibodies obtained as serum (polyclonal are contaminated with proteases and serum samples are generally collected under condition that render them non sterile. This can be circumvented by employing the following procedures:
  • The sample can be heated to 56 ⁰ C for 30 minutes to remove the effect of complement.
  • Before or after heating, the sample can be frozen (in aliquots) at –70 ⁰ C. This minimizes proteolytic activity.
  • Chemicals such as sodium azide or sodium fluoride (0.1%), merthiolate (0.01%) can be added to stop bacterial growth but has little effect on proteolytic activity.
  • The ideal way of storing sera is by lyophilisation. Lyophilised samples can be reconstituted with requisite amount of distilled water whenever required.