The effect of trypsin and chymotrypsin on the bactericidal activity and specific antibody activity of bovine colostrum.

Digestion of bovine colostral whey with trypsin or chymotrypsin caused a progressive loss of the complement-mediated bactericidal activity of naturally-occurring colostral antibodies of E. coli 0111. Bactericidal activity was associated primarily with IgG1 immunoglobulin and to a lesser extent with IgM. Chymotrypsin preferentially attacked IgM, destroying its antibacterial activity and producing an apparent decrease in its mol wt. Trypsin preferentially attacked IgG1, but loss of antibacterial activity was in this case not accompanied by a decrease in molecular weight. Using colostral whey with antiperoxidase activity it was shown that the kinetics of loss of specific antibody activity were similar to those of loss of bactericidal activity. It is therefore suggested that trypsin may cause a loss of specific antibody activity of colostral IgG1 without cleaving the immunoglobulin molecule.