Table 2.

Monoclonal versus polyclonal antibodies.

Properties	Monoclonal antibody	Polyclonal antibody
Epitope selectivity	One antibody selective for a single epitope on an antigen	A mixture of antibodies recognizing multiple epitopes on an antigen
Source	Usually generated in mice or rabbit	Generated in a variety of species including rabbit, goat, sheep, and donkey
Reproducibility	Always identical (produced from the same hybridoma)	Prone to batch to batch variability (produced from animal sera)
Cross‐reactivity	Less likely to cross‐react with other proteins → lower background	May contain non‐specific antibodies→ background staining
Specificity/Sensitivity	More specific due to single epitope recognition but less sensitive because often unable to detect masked antigen.	More sensitive due to targeting multiple epitopes of an antigen but less specific than monoclonal antibodies