| minimal anaesthetic concentration | The end-alveolar concentration of an inhalation anaesthetic which prevents somatic response to a painful stimulus in 50% of individuals; an index of relative potency of inhalation anaesthetics. Synonym: minimal anaesthetic concentration. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| minimal brain dysfunction | An inability to control behaviour due to difficulty in processing neural stimuli. (12 Dec 1998) |
| minimal deviation melanoma | <dermatology, tumour> A malignant melanoma showing less cytologic atypia than is usual in melanoma cells showing asymmetric expansile invasion of the dermis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| minimal dose | <pharmacology> The smallest amount of a drug or physical procedure that will produce a desired physiologic effect in an adult. (05 Mar 2000) |
| minimal infecting dose | <microbiology> The smallest quantity of infectious material regularly producing infection; usually expressed as I.D.50, the quantity causing infection in 50% of a suitable series of animals or cells (cell cultures). (05 Mar 2000) |
| minimal inhibitory concentration | <microbiology, pharmacology> The lowest concentration of antibiotic sufficient to inhibit bacterial growth when tested in vitro. (05 Mar 2000) |
| minimal lethal dose | <pharmacology> The minimal dose of a toxic substance or infectious agent that is lethal, as assayed in various experimental animals (e.g., the least amount of diphtheria toxin that, on an average, kills a 250-g guinea pig within 96 hours after subcutaneous inoculation). When followed by a subscript (generally "MLD50"), denotes the minimal dose that is lethal to a certain percentage (e.g., 50%) of animals so assayed, LD05. See: lethal dose. (05 Mar 2000) |
| minimal medium | <cell culture> The simplest tissue culture medium that will support the proliferation of normal cells. (18 Nov 1997) |
| minimal reacting dose | The minimal dose of a toxic substance causing a reaction, as manifested in the skin of a series of susceptible test animals; the assay is based on the development of a characteristic, minimal but definite, "standard," focal inflammation (congestion and oedema, induration, degenerative changes, and desquamation of epidermal cells). (05 Mar 2000) |