Immunoglobulins – the term seems so big and daunting. So, let’s make things simple and call them by their nickname: Antibodies.

Let’s use an analogy here. Think of your body as a castle.

1. Invaders

Sometimes, tiny, invisible invaders, like viruses and bacteria, try to sneak into your body. It may be through a scratch on your knee or when you breathe or when you eat food, etc. Of course, these invaders will create trouble when they get in.

2. The Patrol Guards

Your blood is like a castle’s moat and rivers. To secure the fortress, there are billions of tiny guard creatures floating in this river. These are your Antibodies – tiny, Y-shaped protein tools.

Each antibody has a special, “shaped hand” at the top of its “Y.” It’s like a puzzle piece.

3. The Perfect Fit

Every type of germ has a weird, bumpy ”bad guy badge” on its surface, called an antigen. When a virus enters the body, our antibodies float by with their different shaped hands. There’s bound to be one that will come along whose hand fits perfectly onto that virus’s bad guy badge. Once this happens, the antigen will latch on to the invader.

4. Tag and Trap

That antibody doesn’t kill the germ itself. By latching on, it does two brilliant things:

1. It tags the invader to let everyone know it’s an invader.
2. It traps the invader: The antibody’s arms can clump viruses together, so they can’t move around.

Click here to read the full details: https://open.substack.com/pub/wchflorida/p/whats-an-immunoglobulin-and-why-is?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web