The Rat IgG EIA kit contains a rat IgG-specific polyclonal antibody, and is applicable not only for measuring IgG in all rat blood samples regardless of strain, but also for monitoring IgG production in rat-monoclonal antibody-producing hybridomas with high sensitivity. This kit comes with a ready-to-use plate coated with solid-phase capture antibody. Its usage and dosage are designed to allow simple detection of rat IgG with good sensitivity and reproducibility within a very short time–only 60 minutes for the entire assay.
Immunoglobulins (Ig) are antibody proteins that play a key role in antibody-mediated immunity, one of the host defense mechanisms. There are five classes of immunoglobulins (IgG, IgA, IgM, IgE and IgD) present in animals, with IgG accounting for 80% of the immunoglobulins in the blood. IgG levels vary greatly depending on the immune response; however, IgG is generally present in the blood at 3–10 mg/mL. This is a high enough concentration that IgG can be detected without using a high sensitivity ELISA assay.
Monoclonal antibodies are uniform immunoglobulins produced by hybridoma cells. These cells are a fusion between antibody-forming cells and tumor cells grown in culture. Monoclonal antibody production technology is well established, and it is now common to establish cell lines capable of long-term production of an antibody against a mouse antigen by constructing heterohybridomas through fusion of rat lymphoma cells with mouse myeloma cells. Assaying rat IgG production has become indispensable in the maintenance of rat-monoclonal antibody-producing heterohybridomas. Unlike IgG levels in blood, IgG is present in heterohybridoma supernatants at low levels and a high sensitivity assay is required for detection.
