antibodies and killing/eliminating antigens

Question 1

how do antibodies help kill/eliminate antigens(i.e. pathogens)

Answer 1

they can bind to the antigens and either recognise/signal them as foreign or inactivate/eliminate the antigen themselves

Question 2

what are the different functions of IgM antibodies

Answer 2

in membrane bound form serves as receptor and activates B cell
in secreted form in plasma and other fluids its functions are agglutination and complement system activation

Question 3

describe the process of agglutination

Answer 3

agglutination = action of antibody(IgM0 to clump together and cross-link antigens to produce a clump of antigens

Question 4

what effect does agglutination have

Answer 4

it increases the efficacy of pathogen elimination by enhancing phagocytosis
can also prevent viruses from binding to and infecting host cells(‘neutralisation’ function)

Question 5

describe how IgM can help activate the complement system

Answer 5

when IgM antibody binds to specific antigen it induces a conformational change in Fc region of antibody, exposes multiple binding sites for C1(first component of complement system), activating the classical pathway