RESUMO
Most antivenoms are produced by techniques developed over 50 years ago, with minor modifications. Herein we revise the core of traditional antivenom production processes aiming to optimize key determinants for both consistent antivenom production and the best balance between F(ab')2 quality and recovery. Factorial design analysis revealed that pepsin digestion of 1:3 saline diluted equine plasma for 60 min under pH: 3.20, 37 °C temperature and a 1:15 pepsin to protein ratio conditions, allowed to achieve maximal IgG to F(ab')2 conversion with minimal protein aggregate formation. Further downstream processing by salting out with ammonium sulfate was also studied by factorial analysis. The influence of ammonium sulfate (AS) concentration, temperature (T) and the albumin to total plasma protein ratio plasma (Alb:P) were assayed, revealing that both AS, T and their interaction have a significant impact in F(ab')2 quality and recovery. Taking into account the existing compromise between F(ab')2 monomer recovery and quality two alternative conditions were selected: 14 g/dl AS at 56 °C and, alternatively 16 g/dl AS at 30 °C. Reasonable yields (42%) and product quality (2.5% of aggregates) without significant changes in production cost of traditional methodologies was achieved under the optimized conditions found.