Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A term originally introduced by Buchner to designate certain substances present in normal blood-serum which are capable of destroying various foreign cellular elements, such as bacteria, red blood-corpnscles, etc.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun biochemistry, dated A
protective substance that exists in theserum or otherbodily fluid and is capable of killingmicroorganisms ;complement .
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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In 1900, he ascertained that, with the help of its specific antibody, the substance used to produce immunity fixes the alexin or complement in such a way that, when proportions between the three bodies are favourable, the complement disappears completely from the mixture.
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In such a case, there form in the guinea-pig antibodies which, in the presence of alexin or complement, have a destructive action on the red corpuscles of the rabbit, but not on those of other animals.
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It becomes "bactericidal," produces a bactericidal poison (called an alexin) which is usually present in normal blood, but is greatly increased when large numbers of certain poisonous microbes (_e. g._ those of typhoid fever) get into the blood.
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After we tried we can arrive at a conclusion and not before. alexin
unknown title 2008
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a body formed at the time of immunization, the bacteriolytic antibody, and of a substance present in normal serum and not under the influence of immunization, the alexin or the complement.
nerdyperv commented on the word alexin
"..., the alexin of our cure grows by a mountain rock, ..."
— Thomas Wolfe Look Homeward, Angel
April 1, 2011