Table 3.
Choice of animal
| Animal | Maximal amount of sera (mL) | Monoclonal antibodies possible | Inbred | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rabbits | 500 | No | No | Often best choice for polyclonal antibody production even when antigen is limiting |
| Mice | 2 | Yes | Yes | Often best choice for monoclonal antibody production |
| Excellent genetics of immune response | ||||
| Many knockout types available | ||||
| Rats | 20 | Yes | Yes | Good choice for monoclonal antibody production |
| Good for anti-mouse proteins | ||||
| Hamsters | 20 | Yes | No | Good choice for polyclonal antibody production when antigen is limiting |
| Good choice for monoclonal antibody if high homology (mouse/rat/human) | ||||
| Excellent Protein A binding | ||||
| Guinea pigs | 30 | Yes | No | Hard to bleed |
| Chickens | 50 | Noa | No | Good for highly conserved mammalian antigens |
| Sheep | No | No | Very-high–affinity antibodies | |
| Camels/llamas | Noa | No | Very stable heavy-chain–only antibodies | |
| Sharks | Noa | No | Small, stable NAR antibodies |
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aMonoclonal antibodies have been generated by molecular cloning in mammalian production cell lines.
