| PC | Although PC is usually taken to mean personal computer, in the biomedical arena pc also stands for protein c, phosphocreatinine, et al. (12 Dec 1998) |
|---|---|
| pc12 cells | A cell line derived from a pheochromocytoma of the rat adrenal medulla. Pc12 cells stop dividing and undergo terminal differentiation when treated with nerve growth factor, making the line a useful model system for neuronal differentiation. (12 Dec 1998) |
| PC4 proprotein convertase | <enzyme> Member of the kex2-subtilisin-like proprotein convertase family; there are at least three pc4 mrnas, a, b, and c (654, 619 and 609 amino acids respectively); abundant in rat testis; do not confuse with an immediate early protein pc4 Registry number: EC 3.4.21.- Synonym: pc4 protein (26 Jun 1999) |
| PC5 proprotein convertase | <enzyme> Member of the subtilisin/kexin-like proprotein convertase family; isolated from mouse (mpc5) and rat (rpc5) genbank l14932 (mouse), l14933 (rat) Registry number: EC 3.4.21.- Synonym: pc5 protein, mpc5, rpc5, prohormone convertase pc5 (26 Jun 1999) |
| PC6 endoprotease | <enzyme> Isolated from mouse; a member of the mammalian kex2-like family of subtilisin-like endoproteases; homologous to human pace4 Registry number: EC 3.4.21.- Synonym: endoprotease pc6, pc6 protein, pc6a proprotein convertase, spc6 (26 Jun 1999) |
| PC8 prohormone convertase | <enzyme> Shows amino acid identity with the mammalian convertases furin (54%), pace4 (53%), pc1 (53%), and pc2 (52%); amino acid sequence given in first source Registry number: EC 3.4.21.- Synonym: pc8 protein (26 Jun 1999) |
| PCA | <anaesthetics, procedure> Self-administration of analgesics by a patient instructed in doing so, usually refers to self-dosing with intravenous opioid (for example, morphine) administered by means of a programmable pump. (16 Dec 1997) |
| PCB | <abbreviation> Polychlorinated biphenyl. (05 Mar 2000) |
| pcb's | Polychlorinated biphenyls. A group of organic compounds. PCB's are highly toxic to aquatic life. They persist in the environment for long periods of time, and they are bioaccumulants. (05 Dec 1998) |
| PCIS | <abbreviation> Patient care information system, the interactive computer system used to store medical records in a hospital. (05 Mar 2000) |
| PCMB | PCMB <abbreviation> P-chloromercuribenzoate. (05 Mar 2000) |
| PCO | Polycystic ovarian disease (or the Stein-Leventhal syndrome). (12 Dec 1998) |
| pCO2 | Symbol for partial pressure (tension) of carbon dioxide. See: partial pressure. (05 Mar 2000) |
| PCP | <chest medicine> A pneumonia caused by an infection with Pneumocystis carinii. Pneumocystis carinii grows rapidly in the lungs of patients with immunosuppression, particularly due to AIDS and is the leading AIDS-related cause of death. Pneumocystis carinii infection sometimes may occur elsewhere in the body (skin, eye, spleen, liver or heart). It is considered one of the diagnostic criteria for AIDS in an HIV positive individual. (10 Jan 1998) |
| PCR | <molecular biology, technique> The first practical system for in vitro amplification of DNA and as such one of the most important recent developments in molecular biology. Two synthetic oligonucleotide primers, which are complementary to two regions of the target DNA (one for each strand) to be amplified, are added to the target DNA (that need not be pure), in the presence of excess deoxynucleotides and Taq polymerase, a heat stable DNA polymerase. In a series (typically 30) of temperature cycles, the target DNA is repeatedly denatured (around 90_C), annealed to the primers (typically at 50-60_C) and a daughter strand extended from the primers (72_C). As the daughter strands themselves act as templates for subsequent cycles, DNA fragments matching both primers are amplified exponentially, rather than linearly. The original DNA need thus be neither pure nor abundant and the polymerase chain reaction has accordingly become widely used not only in research, but in clinical diagnostics and forensic science. Acronym: PCR (14 Oct 1997) |