Why the monoclonal Ab´s are made in mouse and the polyclonal Ab´s are made in rabbit?

Answer 1

The answer to this is more related to the availability of materials and less related to specific characteristics of these species.

The availability of non-producing plasma cell tumor and autonomously dividing cell line in the mouse makes it possible to fuse a normal antibody producing B-cell with the plasma cell tumor cell and have it grow and produce antibodies continuously. The men who developed this procedure Koehler and Milstein were awarded the Nobel prize for it because this procedure has become extremely valuable in all biological sciences and in medicine. These antibodies are called monoclonal antibodies because they are made by the daughters of a single antibody producing cell. Monoclonal antibodies bind to only one specific antigenic component called an epitope. This makes monoclonals very specific which is useful in science and medicine but these antibodies usually don't bind very tightly.

On the other hand, Rabbits develop antibody diversity shortly after they are born. This makes it possible for laboratories to make large amounts of antibody to a specific antigen by injecting very young Rabbits with the antigen which becomes the main focus of the antibody diversification process. These young rabbits make lots of different antibodies to the antigen or to specific amino acid sequences or conformations of it. The effect of having multiple kinds of antibody made by multiple clones of antibody producing cells (which is why these are called polyclonal antibodies) is to have an antibody that binds to the antigen very tightly. Such antibodies are available in large amounts and are used to purify specific proteins, capture other antibodies in assays, and passively protect against pathogens in infectious disease models, etc.

I hope this helps.

Answer 2

Monoclonal antibodies have generally been produced from mouse or rat splenocytes that have been fused with plasmacytoma cells. While mouse monoclonals are certainly the majority, there have been recent developments for the production of rabbit monoclonals as well. They are not terribly widespread or available but they have now been developed. One company that is selling prepared rabbit monoclonals is Cell Signaling Technology........www.cellsignal.com

Outside of this, rabbits have been the choice for polyclonal production because of the ability to bleed the animals multiple times and get good antibody production while continuing to boost with antigen. The cost of maintaining rabbits for antibody production is a great deal more favorable than maintaining antibody producing horses or goats or sheep for example. (Even though these other species have also been reliable producers of polyclonal antibodies for research and clinical use.)

Answer 3

Making monoclonanl antibodies involves isolating the animal's spleen, getting individual cells and fusing them with other cells to make them live forever. The correct cells and growth conditions have been worked out for mice, but I don't know if they have for rabbits. Even if they have, mice are easier.
Polyclonal antibodies can actually be obtained from a number of different animals, but rabbits are common because they are pretty easy to keep and supply a fair amount of blood.

Lookup "hybridoma" for more info on monoclonals and how to make them. Take a look at http://www.jacksonimmuno.com/ for more information about all antibodies.