Because monoclonal antibodies react with one epitope on the antigen, however, they are more vulnerable to the loss of epitope through chemical treatment of the antigen than are polyclonal antibodies. This can be offset by pooling two or more monoclonal antibodies to the same antigen. When compared to that of polyclonal antibodies, homogeneity of monoclonal antibodies is very high. If experimental conditions are kept constant, results from monoclonal antibodies will be highly reproducible, between experiments. Specificity of monoclonal antibodies makes them extremely efficient for binding of antigen within a mixture of related molecules, such as in the case of affinity purification.
Polyclonal antibodies are often the preferred choice for detection of denatured proteins.
Polyclonal antibodies may be generated in a variety of species, including rabbit, goat, sheep, donkey, chicken and others, giving the users many options in experimental design. Antibody preparations vary significantly in specific antibody concentration.