Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A digestive enzyme found in gastric juice that catalyzes the breakdown of protein to peptides.
- noun A substance containing pepsin, obtained from the stomachs of hogs and calves and used as a digestive aid.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The proteolytic ferment found in the gastric juice.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Physiol. Chem.) A proteolytic enzyme (MW 34,500) contained in the secretory glands of the stomach. In the gastric juice it is united with dilute hydrochloric acid (0.2 per cent, approximately) and the two together constitute the active portion of the digestive fluid. It degrades proteins to proteoses and peptides, and is notable for having a very low pH optimum for its activity. It is the active agent in the gastric juice of all animals.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun biochemistry A
digestive enzyme that chemically digests, or breaks down,proteins into shorter chains ofamino acids .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an enzyme produced in the stomach that splits proteins into peptones
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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Plus the acid in the stomach activates an enzyme called pepsin that further degrades proteins into smaller peptide units.
Low-carb diets reduce oxidative stress | The Blog of Michael R. Eades, M.D. 2008
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There it picks up one of the chemicals, known as pepsin, that breaks food down in the stomach; in response, Trichinella starts to flail.
Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009
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There it picks up one of the chemicals, known as pepsin, that breaks food down in the stomach; in response, Trichinella starts to flail.
Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009
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There it picks up one of the chemicals, known as pepsin, that breaks food down in the stomach; in response, Trichinella starts to flail.
Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009
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This juice contains a ferment called pepsin and hydrochloric acid.
The Chemistry of Food and Nutrition A. W. Duncan
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Its chief constituents are two ferments called pepsin and rennin, free hydrochloric acid, mineral salts, and 95 per cent of water.
A Practical Physiology Albert F. Blaisdell
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Alcohol coagulates the pepsin, which is the dissolving element in this important gastric fluid.
A Practical Physiology Albert F. Blaisdell
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It simply becomes moist on the surface; and even this moisture may come from the pepsin, which is highly absorbent.
The Life of the fly; with which are interspersed some chapters of autobiography Jean-Henri Fabre 1869
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This is done in each instance without violence, probably by means of a special pepsin, which is not the same in both cases.
The Life of the fly; with which are interspersed some chapters of autobiography Jean-Henri Fabre 1869
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However, except for some of the originally studied enzymes (such as pepsin and trypsin), a convention has been adopted to name enzymes.
Biotransformation 2008
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