Review of Selected Adjuvants Used in Antibody Production

Abstract

Immunologic adjuvants are agents that nonspecifically increase immune responses to specific antigens that are weakly immunogenic. The purpose of this article is to inform investigators and research staff about three commonly used and commercially available adjuvants for antibody production in laboratory animals and to briefly cover other adjuvants that may be used for this purpose. The three adjuvants that will be emphasized in this article are Freund's-type mineral oil adjuvant emulsions, Ribi Adjuvant System®, and TiterMax®. Other reports have studied these adjuvants, or combinations thereof, when administered with specific antigens (Lipman et al., 1992; Smith et al., 1992; Johnston et al., 1991).