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Background
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Chicken IgY is specific to chickens and is the counterpart to IgG from mammals. Chickens transfer high quantities of IgY into the egg yolk and harvesting antibodies from eggs eliminates the need for the invasive bleeding procedure. One week's eggs can contain 10 times more antibodies than the volume of rabbit blood obtained from one weekly bleeding. Due to the phylogenetic distance between birds and mammals, there is greater potential of producing a higher percentage of specific antibody against mammalian antigens when using chickens [1]. Since chicken IgY does not cross-react with mammalian IgG [2] and does not bind bacterial or mammalian Fc receptors [3], non-specific binding is reduced, and the need for cross-species immunoabsorptions is also eliminated [4].Synonyms: Chicken Immunoglobulin G, Chicken Immunoglobulin Y
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