Removal of digoxin from plasma using monoclonal anti-digoxin antibodies immobilized on agarose

Monoclonal anti-digoxin antibodies (dig-Ab) have been covalently coupled to agarose supports to evaluate them as part of an extracorporeal device for removal of digoxin from the circulation. The agarose supports studied were Sepharose CL-6B, agarose-polyacrolein microsphere (APAM) beads, Bio Gel A-5m and Affi-gel 15 (Bio-Rad). Antibody concentrations between 2 and 4 mg/g gel were coupled to the agarose beads which were then placed in glass columns. Bovine α-globulin coupled to the agarose supports was used as a control. Binding capacity and affinity of the immobilized antibody were determined by perfusing the dig-Ab agarose beads with a plasma solution containing 3H-digoxin and various concentrations of digoxin. The binding capacity of the immobilized dig-Ab was 30% of the theoretical value for Sepharose, Bio Gel and Affigel, and 10% of the theoretical value for dig-Ab coupled to APAM beads. The affinity of the immobilized dig-Ab was 10-100 fold less than non-immobilized Ab (3.4 x 108M-1. The APAM beads showed a significant decrease in binding of digoxin as the flow rate was increased from 0.5 to 5.0 ml/min. These data demonstrate that dig-Ab coupled to agarose and incorporated into a column can be used to remove digoxin from plasma in vitro