lytic, a.
(ˈlɪtɪk)
[ad. Gr. λυτικ-ός able to loose.]
1. Med. Of, pertaining to, or causing a lysis (sense 2).
| 1889 Syd. Soc. Lex., Lytic, of, or belonging to, a loosing or dissolving. 1907 Practitioner Apr. 500 It boots little whether that increase in heat [during fever] is due to an excessive production, as the ‘genetic’ protagonists proclaim, or an inadequate dissipation, as their ‘lytic’ opponents contend. 1962 Lancet 26 May 1123/2 Ice placed inside the oxygen tent and cold sponging are remarkably efficient in lowering the temperature of these infants to 86–88°F (31°C)... In our experience ‘lytic’ agents are not required. |
2. Bacteriology. Pertaining to or causing lysis (sense 3); lytic cycle, the sequence of events that takes place from the infection of a bacterium by a virulent phage to lysis of the bacterium and the release of progeny phage.
| 1902 Jrnl. Exper. Med. 17 Mar. 281 Only when the lytic serum is very fresh will solution be effected. 1922 Brit. Jrnl. Exper. Path. III. 259 The lytic substance, lysozyme, is very stable. 1925 C. H. Browning Bacteriol. ix. 214 He concluded that the agent causing this solution or lytic action was a living virus. 1946 Nature 23 Nov. 745/1 The lytic effect of certain myxobacteria upon the true bacteria (eubacteria) has been known for some years. 1963 Biol. Abstr. XLI. 1198/2 Studies on control of enzyme induction and initiation of lytic cycle in a lysogenic bacterium. 1968 R. Rieger Gloss. Genetics & Cytogenetics 34 The introduction by infection of the genetic material of virulent phages into a susceptible host results invariably in the death and dissolution of the cell with the release of (100–10000) new phages (‘lytic cycle’). 1972 Nature 24 Mar. 144/3 It is much more likely that the tails kill sensitive cells either by injecting lytic enzymes or by acting at the cell surface. |