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Image: Antibody basic unit

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Description: Schematic diagram of an antibody (immunoglobulin). It consists of two heavy chains (blue, yellow) and two light chains (green, pink). One of the two antigen-binding regions is circled: they are formed by the variable regions at the tip of the antibody. The heavy chains have (starting from the N-terminus at the tip) a variable domain (VH), followed by a constant domain (CH1), a hinge region, and two more constant domain (CH2, CH3). The light chains have a variable domain (VL) and a constant domain (CL). The CH2 and CH3 regions form the crystallizable fragment (Fc). The variable and CH1, CL regions form a pair of antigen-binding fragments (Fab).

Disulfide bonds between the chains are drawn as S-S. Their exact number and location varies for different isotypes.
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