Improved purification and yield of the Egyptian snake Cerastes cerastes antitoxin by the use of caprylic acid.

The aim of this study was to obtain anti-snake antiserum by optimizing the conditions of extraction and purification and test its ability to neutralize local myonecrosis. Extraction and purification was achieved through adjustment of the pH, pepsin concentration, time of digestion, and caprylic acid concentration. Our results indicate that the best conditions to obtain anti-snake antiserum from ammonium sulfate fractionated plasma are pH 3.3, 3.5 g/l pepsin, digestion for 90 min at 37 degrees C, and 0.5% caprylic acid. Antiserum purified using this method has greater neutralizing ability of myonecrosis than ammonium sulfate (ammSO4) fractionated product.