DEVELOPMENT AND COMPARISON OF ASSAYS FOR MEASURING IMMUNOSPECIFIC ANTIBODY-RESPONSE IN SERUM OF CHICKENS AND RABBITS IMMUNIZED WITH HUMAN-IMMUNOGLOBULIN-G

The antibody response development during polyclonal antibody productio n is a relevant parameter to monitor during the immunization period to be able to optimize the immunization protocol and to determine the op timal antibody harvest time. Although rabbits and other mammals are mo st often used for polyclonal antibody production, the chicken is a rel evant alternative. There are both scientific reasons, economic reasons , and animal welfare reasons to consider when choosing the chicken ins tead of a mammal for this purpose, because antibodies in generous quan tities can be harvested from the egg yolk. This study compared differe nt assays for measuring antibody response in rabbit and chicken serum. An inhibition liquid phase absorption assay (ILPAA), a rocket immunoe lectrophoresis (RIE) assay, and a line immunoelectrophoresis (LIE) ass ay were compared to ELISAs. The ELISA proved to be the most useful ass ay for routine use, as it was less time-consuming and because the assa y could easily be adapted to both serum antibody types. However, elect rophoretic assays were the most useful as combined analytical and quan titative tools and must be considered essential when analyzing specifi cities of polyclonal antibody preparations.