Fish Immunology (1+1)

Unit 8- Antibody (Immunoglobulin)

8.5. Polyclonal antibody
Bacterial cell possess different epitopes, upon injection each epitope will stimulate the proliferation and differentiation of B-cell to produce antibody, each particular antibody derived from a B cell that recognizes a particular epitope. Hence large numbers of antibodies are produced with different specificities and epitope affinities, The resulting antibodies in the serum are heterogeneous in nature, each specific for one epitope.
Thus polyclonal antibodies are antibodies that are obtained from different B cell resources and are combination of immunoglobulin molecules secreted against a specific antigen, each identifying a different epitope.
So these antibodies are purified from the serum of immunised animals were the antigen of interest stimulates the B-lymphocytes to produce a diverse range of immunoglobulin's specific to that antigen.
Advantages

• Inexpensive to produce
• Technology and skills required for production low
• Production time scale is short

Disadvantages:

• Prone to batch to batch variability.
• Multiple epitopes may cross-reactivity and give false result.