Host animals for antibody development

The most common host animal used to develop polyclonal antibodies is the New Zealand white rabbit. According to your specific requirements, we can propose alternative hosts such as mouse, rat, guinea pig, goat or chicken for anti-protein or anti-peptide antibodies. As the development of anti-PTM antibodies is very specific, only rabbit and mouse are available. You can choose to immunise only one animal for a project, but we recommend to immunise at least two due to the variability of the immune response to a given antigen between individuals.

Monoclonal antibody development projects involve either 4 female BALB/c mice or 2 female Wistar rats. Nevertheless, you can request additional animals to increase the probability of triggering a sufficient immune response and therefore generating positive hybridomas.

All experiments are undertaken by experienced and authorized staff following Health and Safety procedures, established according to the French legislation governing the use of animals in experiments. Our animal house is registered under the reference No C21 464 04 EA.

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Available species

Rabbit

Rabbit

Anti-protein & peptide polyclonal Anti-PTM polyclonal

New Zealand

Test bleeds: 5 to 15 mL

Final bleed: 50 to 70 mL

Mouse

Mouse

Anti-protein & peptide polyclonal Anti-PTM polyclonal Monoclonal

BALB/c – SJL

Test bleeds: 30 µL

Final bleed: 0.4 to 0.5 mL

Rat

Rat

Anti-protein & peptide polyclonal Monoclonal

Wistar

Test bleeds: 100 µL

Final bleed: 2.5 to 3 mL

Guinea Pig

Guinea pig

Anti-protein & peptide polyclonal

Dunkin Hartley

Test bleeds: 100 µL

Final bleed: 5 to 6 mL

Goat

Goat

Anti-protein & peptide polyclonal

Alpine Chamoisée

Test bleeds: 6 to 12 mL

Final bleed: 250 to 350 mL

Chicken

Chicken

Anti-protein & peptide polyclonal

Isa-brown

Test bleeds: 0.5 mL

Final bleed: 6 to 8 mL

Llama

Llama

Anti-protein & peptide polyclonal

 

Test bleeds: 6 to 12 mL

Final bleed: 250 to 350 mL

Anti-protein & peptide polyclonal : anti-protein & anti-peptide polyclonal antibody — Anti-PTM polyclonal : anti-PTM polyclonal antibody — Monoclonal : monoclonal antibody

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Class Y immunoglobulins

Chicken

Chickens produce a unique class of immunoglobulins called IgY. These antibodies are functionally equivalent to mammalian IgG and can be isolated from both serum and egg yolk. Development of chicken antibodies is often more convenient and yields higher amounts of antibody than other hosts.

Nevertheless, specific considerations must be taken as regards purification of class Y immunoglobulins. Indeed since IgY do not bind to protein A nor protein G, alternative methods of purification must be carried out.

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Camelids immunoglobulins

Llama

Camelids also produce unconventional immunoglobulins called heavy chain IgG (hcIgG). Contrary to chicken IgY which differ slightly from IgG, hcIgG have a fundamentally distinct structure that confers them very interesting features for scientific and medical research.

Thanks to our agreements and facilities implanted in Rhône-Alpes (France), we can now offer you this exclusive opportunity to develop camelid antibodies and help you circumvent common problems such as inter-species cross-reactivity, steric hindrance or stability.

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