User:Mmouz001/sandbox

Production[edit | edit source]
The general procedure to produce polyclonal antibodies is as follows: An antigen/adjuvant conjugate is injected into an animal of choice to initiate an amplified immune response. After a series of injections over a specific length of time, the animal is expected to have created antibodies against the conjugate. Blood is then extracted from the animal and then purified to obtain the antibody of interest.
 * 1) Antigen preparation
 * 2) Adjuvant selection and preparation
 * 3) Animal selection
 * 4) Injecting process
 * 5) Blood serum extraction

Inoculation is preformed on a suitable mammal, such as a mouse, rabbit or goat.

Advantages
The use of polyclonal antibodies (PAbs) over monoclonal antibodies has its advantages. The technical skills needed to produce polyclonal antibodies is not as demanding. They're inexpensive to make and can be generated fairly quickly, taking up to several months to produce. PAbs are heterogeneous, which allows them to bind to a wide range of antigen epitopes. But because PAbs are produced from a large number of B cell clones, they're more likely to successfully bind to a specific antigen. PAbs remain stable in different environments, such as a change in pH or salt concentration, which allows its to be more applicable in certain procedures. Additionally, depending on the amount needed, PAbs can be made in large quantities in relation to the size of the animal used.

Polyclonal antibodies

Article Critique
Although the production section of the article has a lot of information, I feel there can be a less ambiguous and easier way to present the steps of production. This will then make it easier to follow, allowing it to appeal to a more general audience. After a more broad approach, specific details can be discussed. Because the method of the production of polyclonal antibodies is what ultimately differentiates them from monoclonal antibodies, this section should be stressed more. The small paragraph on methodologies for polyclonal antibody production in laboratory animals feels slightly out of place and should be moved to the Animal Selection below it.

Despite the amount of information on this page, the only section that has references is under pharmaceutical uses, which decreases the credibility of this article. Some good references include:

http://ilarjournal.oxfordjournals.org/content/46/3/269.full

https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=HhEs-xsYp6IC&oi=fnd&pg=PA259&dq=rabbit+polyclonal+antibody+production&ots=kQqZ1_ddwd&sig=FiUoYJVU4IMmnYvzfB1LcHZDfbM#v=onepage&q=rabbit%20polyclonal%20antibody%20production&f=false

http://ilarjournal.oxfordjournals.org/content/46/3/258.full

http://ilarjournal.oxfordjournals.org/content/37/3/93.full

http://www.upenn.edu/regulatoryaffairs/Documents/iacuc/guidelines/iacucguideline-monoclonalandpolyclonalantibodyproduction.pdf

Moving the adjuvant section off this page completely and onto the Immunologic adjuvant page

(subheading to production)