Lexic.us

Definition of Keratin

1. Noun. A fibrous scleroprotein that occurs in the outer layer of the skin and in horny tissues such as hair, feathers, nails, and hooves.

Definition of Keratin

1. n. A nitrogenous substance, or mixture of substances, containing sulphur in a loose state of combination, and forming the chemical basis of epidermal tissues, such as horn, hair, feathers, and the like. It is an insoluble substance, and, unlike elastin, is not dissolved even by gastric or pancreatic juice. By decomposition with sulphuric acid it yields leucin and tyrosin, as does albumin. Called also epidermose.

Definition of Keratin

1. Noun. (protein) A protein which hair and nails are comprised of. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Keratin

1. a fibrous protein [n -S]

Medical Definition of Keratin

1. A protein that is a primary constituent of hair, nails and skin. (27 Sep 1997)

Keratin Pictures

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Lexicographical Neighbors of Keratin

Literary usage of Keratin

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. A Textbook of Physiology by Michael Foster (1889)
"Each cell is, however, flattened and plate-like, and its substance already consists largely of keratin. In passing upwards from the lower to the more ..."

2. The Textile Fibres: Their Physical, Microscopical and Chemical Properties by Joseph Merritt Matthews (1913)
"Chemical Constitution of Wool; keratin. The wool fibre has been found to consist ... In its chemical nature wool is classed as a proteoid, known as keratin. ..."

3. The Dublin Journal of Medical Science (1885)
"keratin-COATED PILLS. DR. UNNA, of Hamburg, has discovered a method of coating pills which is likely to prove even more useful than it is ingenious. ..."

4. Commercial Organic Analysis: A Treatise on the Properties, Proximate by Alfred Henry Allen, Henry Leffmann (1898)
"The ta\ . page 537 illustrates the composition of the " keratin ... From the foregoing results it appears that while the keratin \ from different sources is ..."

5. A Text-book of Chemical Physiology and Pathology by William Dobinson Halliburton (1891)
"this conversion into keratin is still more marked, and in addition tlu'n- is ... In hairs and feathers also the chief organic constituent is keratin ; cells ..."

6. The Feeding of Animals by Whitman Howard Jordan (1901)
"Sulphur is a much more prominent constituent of keratin than of the native ... These keratin bodies belong usually to the epidermis or outer skin of the ..."

7. The Physiology of the Domestic Animals: A Text-book for Veterinary and by Robert Meade Smith (1890)
"keratin.—The epithelial tissues of the animal body—nails, bone, epidermis, and epithelium, as well as horns and feathers—are mainly composed of a substance ..."

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