Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Not a natural component of a particular organism or biological system. Used of chemical compounds.
  • noun A xenobiotic chemical, such as a pesticide.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to xenobiosis.
  • adjective biology Relating to a substance foreign to the body or ecological system.
  • noun biology Any foreign compound not produced by an organism's metabolism

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

xeno- +‎ biotic

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Examples

  • Bacteria respond to a xenobiotic by recruiting exogenous genes to establish a pathway to degrade the xenobiotic, which is necessary for their adaptation and survival.

    Elites TV PLoS ONE 2010

  • [Epub ahead of print] "Biological definition of multiple chemical sensitivity from redox state and cytokine profiling and not from polymorphisms of xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes."

    Leo Galland, M.D.: Why You Need to Detoxify 24 Hours a Day 2010

  • Epub ahead of print "Biological definition of multiple chemical sensitivity from redox state and cytokine profiling and not from polymorphisms of xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes."

    Leo Galland, M.D.: Why You Need to Detoxify 24 Hours a Day M.D. Leo Galland 2010

  • [Epub ahead of print] "Biological definition of multiple chemical sensitivity from redox state and cytokine profiling and not from polymorphisms of xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes."

    Leo Galland, M.D.: Why You Need to Detoxify 24 Hours a Day 2010

  • [Epub ahead of print] "Biological definition of multiple chemical sensitivity from redox state and cytokine profiling and not from polymorphisms of xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes."

    Leo Galland, M.D.: Why You Need to Detoxify 24 Hours a Day 2010

  • They're switching over to the name Xe (like in the words xenophobia or xenobiotic, which fittingly refers to a chemical substance that is foreign and usually harmful to living organisms).

    ZP Heller: Blackwater by Any Other Name Would Still Smell Like Shit 2009

  • Since the liver is the primary site for biotransformation, it is also potentially quite vulnerable to the toxic action of a xenobiotic that is activated to a more toxic compound.

    Biotransformation 2008

  • A threshold for toxic effects occurs at the point where the body's ability to detoxify a xenobiotic or repair toxic injury has been exceeded.

    Dose-response relationship 2008

  • The plasma level of a xenobiotic is important since it generally reflects the concentration of the toxicant at the site of action.

    Distribution of toxicants in the body 2008

  • Thus, reduction reactions frequently result in activation of a xenobiotic rather than detoxification.

    Biotransformation 2008

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