What are Epitopes
Epitopes: The part of antigen which reacts with antibodies is described as Antigenic determinant or Epitopes. The portion of antibody molecule that binds with epitope is knoen as Paratopes. A given antigen may have many number of epitopes of which few are functional and the others are non-functional because they are hidden epitopes. The functional groups which is present on the surface of antigens are described as surface epitopes or functional epitopes. Number of such functional epitopes is known as Valency. There may be few epitopes which are hidden and shall not interact with Paratopes such epitopes are called as Hidden epitopes or Non-functional Epitopes or Active Epitopes.