An antibody derived from a rabbit is known as a rabbit antibody. Antibodies and other animal-derived products are commercially produced by laboratories that specialize in producing antibodies and other animal-derived products. People can either order generic rabbit antibodies or request a custom antibody for a specific project from these laboratories. Custom orders can take up to three months to complete.
Rabbit antibodies are made in laboratories by inoculating healthy, young, and vigorous rabbits with an antigen. Multiple inoculations are usually given over a period of weeks, followed by blood tests to confirm that the rabbit is producing antibodies to the antigen and to determine how many antibodies are produced. The goal is to produce a high antibody titer or count.
The rabbit is bled out and the blood is processed to make an antibody serum once a sufficiently high titer has been achieved. This serum is purified and sent to the lab or person who placed the antibody order. If a particular rabbit antibody is in high demand, a lab may continue to produce it indefinitely to ensure a steady supply.
Antibody conjugation is another service that labs can provide. In this case, a rabbit antibody is conjugated with another compound, such as a marker, to make it easier to identify the antibody. Rabbit antibody conjugation, for example, can include the addition of a fluorescent tag.
A rabbit antibody can be used in a number of different applications. Diagnostic tests are one of the most common. A laboratory technician can test blood from other species to see if they have antibodies to a specific antigen using an antibody developed in a rabbit. This can be done with an ELISA test, for example; in this case, even if the antibodies in the test are from different species, they will both lock onto the antigen, resulting in a positive test result.
Antibodies like these can also be used in scientific studies. There’s also the possibility of developing therapeutic antibodies in animals, though there are some drawbacks to using therapeutic antibodies from different species. Human antibody cultivation and harvesting are considered unethical, so animal sources must be used. However, humans can volunteer to donate antibodies, as some people who have survived rare diseases have done by allowing serum to be collected from their blood and injected into someone who has been exposed to the disease.