zymogen Biol. Chem.
(ˈzaɪməʊdʒɛn)
[ad. G. zymogen (Heidenhain, 1875): see zymo- and -gen.]
A substance formed in an organism, from which a ferment is produced. Also attrib.
| 1877 M. Foster Physiol. ii. i. (1878) 219 A pancreas taken fresh from the body..contains but little ready-made ferment, though there is present in it a body which, by some kind of decomposition, gives birth to the ferment... To this body..Heidenhain has given the name of Zymogen. 1896 E. B. Wilson Cell in Devel. 288 Zymogen granules. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. III. 306 A zymogen is the antecedent of the ferment of the secretion—pepsinogen, trypsinogen, for example. |
So
zymogeˈnetic,
zymoˈgenic,
zyˈmogenous adjs., producing a ferment, or causing fermentation.
| 1896 Allbutt's Syst. Med. I. 528 Organisms..acting partly as ferments, partly as *zymogenetic cells. |
| 1884 Klein Micro-org. xxi. 187 Putrefactive and many *zymogenic organisms thrive well at ordinary temperatures. 1900 Nature 13 Sept. 405 Zymogenic..bacteria. |