#opsonization

[adataraxia]

[biology-geology-beaches-india]

The Scientific Research Notes Of S. Sunkavally. Printed Part, Page 358.

Dates unclear, but certainly between. 2006-2012.

[lazerwing]

"Opsonization"

From greek: opson, salt

Cells are more likely to eat intruding particles if they have been properly salted beforehand.

[cat-guts]

Antibodies - Your body's Kamikaze

Opsonization is the process of ingestion and destruction of a pathogen by a phagocite. It starts with the antibodies recognizing the antigen on the bacteria and attaching to the epitope of the antigen. Once the anitbody attaches to the antigen's epitope, the Fc region of the antibody changes structure. The changing of the structure of the Fc region signals the Fc receptor on the phagocite to attach to the Fc region, and engulf the bacteria--along with the antibody--and destroy it all. 

The process of opsonization for viruses is slightly different, as the virus infects cells instead of being an actual body as is the bacterium. The host cell indicates that it is infected by the virus by putting out flag antigens, which signal to antibodies to attach to the antigen's epitope. When the antibody attaches to the epitope, the structure of the Fc region changes, signaling to the Fc receptor that it needs to destroy the host cell, virus, and antibodies.