ABSTRACT
Whilst it is eminently possible to produce an inadequate assay from excellent antibodies, the converse is not true. This book should assist the inexperienced worker in producing useful assays from good sera, but neither it, nor any other work, can assist in producing useful assays from poor sera. Unfortunately, it is impossible to be prescriptive about exactly what one should do when faced with the task of generating suitable antisera against a novel molecule. Optimising the production of antibodies for one chemical entity is no guarantee that the same method can be successfully applied to a second target. There are, perhaps, as many detailed methods as there are workers in the field, each based on previous success and current pragmatism. However, the underlying principles remain the same, and it is these that this chapter will attempt to explain. Sometimes the theory described below may appear somewhat esoteric; however, it should help explain why some of the protocols have been developed and help the newcomer to the field develop his own. Furthermore, it should help provide a framework of what is possible and what is not.
