| inhibit | To curb or restrain. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| inhibitine | <biochemistry> Dipeptide found at millimolar concentration in vertebrate muscle. (18 Nov 1997) |
| inhibiting antibody | An "incomplete" form of antibody that may coat antigen, but which according to the "lattice theory" does not have a second receptor for attachment to another molecule of antigen; in the case of Rh+ erythrocytes, such an anti-Rh antibody may coat the cells but not cause them to agglutinate in saline; however, agglutination does occur when such coated cells are suspended in serum or other protein media, such as albumin, therefore called serum agglutinin. Synonym: incomplete antibody, inhibiting antibody. (05 Mar 2000) |
| inhibition | 1. Arrest or restraint of a process. 2. <psychology> The interference with or prevention of a behavioural or verbal response even though the stimulus for that response is present; in psychoanalysis the unconscious restraining of an instinctual process. Origin: L. Inhibere = to restrain, habere = to hold (04 Jul 1999) |
| inhibition factor | <growth factor> A soluble, nondialysable factor that is produced by sensitised lymphocytes following exposure to a specific antigen. It inhibits macrophage migration and causes adherence. It was originally defined on the basis of inhibition of emigration of mononuclear cells from capillary (haematocrit) tubes, more recently a 13 kD protein with migration inhibitory activity has been isolated. Acronym: MIF Synonym: inhibition factor. (22 Sep 2002) |
| inhibitor | <chemistry, pharmacology> A molecule which represses or prevents another molecule from engaging in a reaction. See: inhibition. (09 Oct 1997) |
| inhibitory | Of or pertaining to, or producing, inhibition; consisting in inhibition; tending or serving to inhibit; as, the inhibitory action of the pneumogastric on the respiratory center. "I would not have you consider these criticisms as inhibitory. <physiology> " (Lamb) Inhibitory nerves, those nerves which modify, inhibit, or suppress a motor or secretory act already in progress. Origin: LL. Inhibitorius: cf. F. Inhibitoire. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| inhibitory fibres | Nerve fibre's that inhibit the activity of the nerve cells with which they have synaptic connections, or of the effector tissue (smooth muscle, heart muscle, glands) in which they terminate. (05 Mar 2000) |
| inhibitory junction potential | Hyperpolarization of smooth muscle produced by stimulation of inhibitory nerves. (05 Mar 2000) |
| inhibitory nerve | <anatomy, nerve> A nerve conveying impulses that diminish functional activity in a part. (05 Mar 2000) |
| inhibitory postsynaptic potential | The change in potential produced in the membrane of the next neuron when an impulse which has an inhibitory influence arrives at the synapse; it is a local change in the direction of hyperpolarization; the frequency of discharge of a given neuron is determined by the extent to which impulses that lead to excitatory postsynaptic potential's predominate over those that cause inhibitory postsynaptic potential's. (05 Mar 2000) |
| inhibitory synapse | A synapse in which an action potential in the presynaptic cell reduces the probability of an action potential occurring in the postsynaptic cell. The most common inhibitory neurotransmitter is GABA, this opens channels in the postsynaptic cell which tend to stabilise its resting potential, thus rendering it less likely to fire. See: excitatory synapse, presynaptic inhibition, postsynaptic inhibition. (18 Nov 1997) |
| inhibitory-motor | <physiology> A term applied to certain nerve centers which govern or restrain subsidiary centers, from which motor impressions issue. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |