erepsin
(ɪˈrɛpsɪn)
[a. G. erepsin (O. Cohnheim 1901, in Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem. XXXIII. 460), f. L. eripere to take away, f. Gr. ἐρείπειν + pepsin.]
Name given to a mixture of enzymes in the intestinal juice.
| 1902 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. LXXXII. ii. 93 Erepsin has no action on ordinary proteid, but only on peptone, and on a part of the proteoses. 1940 Thorpe's Dict. Appl. Chem. (ed. 4) IV. 325/1 The early literature refers to an enzyme ‘intestinal erepsin’ able to hydrolyse polypeptides, peptones, etc... The term is now abandoned in favour of polypeptidases. 1961 Brit. Med. Dict. 513/1 Erepsin, a mixture of enzymes, chiefly polypeptidases, present in the intestinal mucosa and capable of converting polypeptides into amino acids. |