Campylobacter jejuni 81176 strain was grown in the Mueller–Hinton broth under microaerobic conditions at 37 °C. An overnight culture was diluted 1:100 into 330 ml of fresh growth media and grown 16–18 h to a mid log phase. Briefly, the cells were pelleted twice, using centrifugation at 6000×g for 2 × 20 min at 4 °C. Supernatants were filtered through a 0.22-μm filter device to remove remaining cells. The filtrate was ultracentrifuged in Beckman L7-55 Ultracentrifuge at 150,000×g for 3 h at 4 °C, using a 50.2 Ti rotor. OMV preparations were plated on BA plates and incubated under microaerobic conditions to confirm the absence of viable bacteria.
The pellets were resuspended with Dulbecco’s phosphate-buffered saline (DPBS) or PBS and stored at −20 °C until needed. Before injecting into eggs, the OMV samples were sterilized by filtration using Ultrafree-MC-GV Centrifugal filters (Merck Millipore). A protein content of OMVs was measured by BCA assay.