mucin Phys.
(ˈmjuːsɪn)
Also 9 -ine.
[a. F. mucine, f. L. mūc-us mucus: see -in 1.]
a. Mucus. b. Any of the glycoproteins found in the mucus of various animals.
| 1833–55 Dunglison Med. Lex., Mucin, mucus. 1846 Carpenter Princ. Hum. Phys. (ed. 3) 131 The chief organic constituent [of bronchial and nasal mucus] is a substance termed Mucin. 1871 Watts tr. Gmelin's Handbk. Chem. XVIII. 340 Mucin... To be distinguished from the mucin of wheat-gluten. 1872 Thudichum Chem. Phys. 48 Mucine has never been found in pus. 1905 Chambers's Jrnl. Jan. 84/2 The mucine which issues from the body of the garden snail. 1938 Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quant. Biol. VI. 91/2 The term ‘mucin’ is entirely avoided. It should be used only in a physiological sense to denote a viscous fluid of secretory origin. 1966 Schultze & Heremans Molecular Biol. Human Proteins I. iv. iv. 769 Salivary mucins are most abundant in sublingual saliva. Ibid., The main sublingual mucin, at least in cattle, differs in composition from submaxillary mucin, as it contains less sialic acid and much more hexose and fucose than the latter product. |
c. attrib. and Comb.
| 1878 Foster Phys. (ed. 2) 221 The greater part of the protoplasm of the cells has become converted into a mucin-bearing substance. 1882 Quain's Anat. (ed. 9) II. 580 The mucin-cells become gradually smaller and less clear. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. IV. 476 A mucin-yielding modification..of the connective tissue. |