Preparative electrophoresis: a general method for the purification of polyclonal antibodies

Antibodies were purified from normal rabbit, sheep, goat, rat, human and bovine serum using preparative electrophoresis on a Gradiflow in a single-step process using an asymmetrical cartridge with three different pore size polyacrylamide membranes. Recoveries in each case were over 80% and were higher than those obtained using affinity chromatography on protein A, protein G or protein L. Degree of purity was at least comparable with these methods. These results suggest that preparative electrophoresis can be considered a general method for the purification of research quantities of antibodies from multiple serum sources and may be particularly useful where the reactivity with protein A, G or L is unknown.