Polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies

Paul Thomas, Wayne Levin, and their colleagues utilized their highly purified cytochromes P450 to pioneer in the development and use of monospecific antibodies (polyclonal and monoclonal) for studies on the structure, function, and regulation of multiple cytochromes P450. This research provided early reports on the immunoquantitation of specific cytochrome P450 isozymes and early reports... 

Antigen-specific antibodies produced by B-cells are secreted and appear in the blood serum of an immunized animal, from where they can be isolated as polyclonal mixtures, usually from rabbits. Alternatively, isolation of B-cells from the spleen of an immunized mouse and fusion with myeloma (tumor cells) yields hybridoma , which are antibody-producing cells that can be propagated in vitro [4]. Each hybridoma cell line secreting an antigen-specific antibody can be isolated and provides a source of a single monoclonal antibody. Polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies to a variety of proteins are commercially available, and many industrial and academic laboratories offer to produce polyclonal or monoclonal antibodies. 

There are two different approaches to generating antibodies polyclonal and monoclonal methods. Polyclonal antibodies are often raised by hyperimmunizing animals with antigens. The hyperimmune animal serum contains a mixed population of antibodies against an entire range of epitopes or determinants present on the antigens. Hyperimmune sera often have higher levels of IgG—up to 10% of the total IgG content is specific antibody. The use of these mixed populations of antibodies sometimes creates problems in immunochemical... 

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