Species differences, commercial assay kit

Antibodies are a powerful and essential tool in scientific laboratories being used in an array of applications such as immuno-histochemistry, immunobloting, immunoprecipitation and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). The different sources for antibodies include polyclonal antisera from immunized animals and monoclonal antibodies from cells in culture or from ascites in animals. Both polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies have their advantages, and or disadvantages, but in general the production of monoclonal antibodies is more time consuming and requires tissue culture facilities and skills. The use of either monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies in some of the applications may require that the antibody is in a purified form. They can be purified by a variety of methods described in the next few chapters. The availability of commercially available kits primarily designed for the purification of IgG and IgM classes of antibodies derived from all common animal species should also be mentioned. 

Even if a kit is not specifically designed for animal usage, or is specifically designed for a particular species, it is possible that the manufacturers have data to support the use of their kit with different species. Some suppliers do provide information on species cross-reactivity and some also provide a complete list of their kits that can be used in other species. When selecting a kit for different species, it may be advisable to search for a species-specific kit. The main reason for using a species-specific kit is that it ensures reactivity of the analyte with assay key reagent(s) and it is likely that there will be fewer problems with matrix effects. Ifa species-specific kit is not available, a search of the literature can be performed to investigate whether other researchers have used specific commercial kits, that is, to obtain information on potential cross-reactivity and so on. 

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