Lexic.us

Definition of Toxin

1. Noun. A poisonous substance produced during the metabolism and growth of certain microorganisms and some higher plant and animal species.

Definition of Toxin

1. n. A poisonous product formed by pathogenic bacteria, as a toxic proteid or poisonous ptomaine.

Definition of Toxin

1. Noun. A toxic or poisonous substance produced by the biological processes of biological organisms. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Toxin

1. a poisonous substance [n -S]

Medical Definition of Toxin

1. A poison, frequently used to refer specifically to a protein produced by some higher plants, certain animals and pathogenic bacteria, which is highly toxic for other living organisms. Such substances are differentiated from the simple chemical poisons and the vegetable alkaloids by their high molecular weight and antigenicity. Origin: Gr toxikon = arrow poison, from Gr. Toxikos = of or for a bow This entry appears with permission from the Dictionary of Cell and Molecular Biology (11 Mar 2008)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Toxin

Literary usage of Toxin

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

1. Chemical Abstracts by American Chemical Society (1908)
"Arrhenius believes that the explanation of this "reversion "lies' in the fact that the addition of the acid was not sufficient to entirely destroy the toxin ..."

2. Preventive Medicine and Hygiene by Milton Joseph Rosenau, George Chandler Whipple, John William Trask, Thomas William Salmon (1916)
"It has been known for a very long time that tetanus toxin affects chiefly the central nervous system, but it is only comparatively recently that it has been ..."

3. Microbiology: A Text-book of Microörganisms, General and Applied by Charles Edward Marshall (1911)
"If tetanus toxin is injected into this animal it will remain in ... The Mechanism of the Neutralization of toxin by Antitoxin.—At one time it was supposed ..."

4. Infection and Resistance: An Exposition of the Biological Phenomena by Hans Zinsser (1918)
"Kempner 34 3S mado similar observations with botulinus toxin and further confirmation has been derived from experiments like those of Blumenthal,38 who ..."

5. A Text-book of General Bacteriology by Edwin Oakes Jordan (1914)
"It has been shown by Meyer and Ransom * that the tetanus toxin is absorbed by ... The toxin may circulate for a time in the blood, but the only path to the ..."

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