- Albumin
- The main protein in human blood and the key to the regulation of the osmotic pressure of blood. Chemically, albumin is soluble in water, precipitated by acid, and coagulated by heat. Note that albumin is spelled with an "i" while "albumen" with an "e" is the white of an egg, the part of the egg from which meringues are made. "Albus" in Latin is white.
* * *A type of simple protein, varieties of which are widely distributed throughout the tissues and fluids of plants and animals; a. is soluble in pure water, precipitable from solution by strong acids, and coagulable by heat in acid or neutral solution. [L. albumen (-min-), the white of egg]- acetosoluble a. SYN: Patein a..- a. B inherited a. variants, under variant.- Bence Jones a. Bence Jones proteins, under protein.- egg a. SYN: ovalbumin.- a. Ghent inherited a. variants, under variant.- iodinated 131I human serum a. a sterile, buffered, isotonic solution prepared to contain not less than 10 mg of radioiodinated normal human serum a. per ml, and adjusted to provide not more than 1 mCi of radioactivity per ml; used as a diagnostic aid in the measurement of blood volume and cardiac output.- iodinated 125I serum a. a sterile, buffered, isotonic solution prepared to contain not less than 10 mg of radioiodinated normal human serum a. per ml, and adjusted to provide not more than 1 mCi of radioactivity per ml; used as a diagnostic aid in determining blood volume and cardiac output. SYN: radioiodinated serum a..- macroaggregated a. (MAA) conglomerates of human serum a. in a suspension; usually refers to particles 10 to 50 μm in size; used as a tagged agent for lung scintigraphy.- a. Mexico inherited a. variants, under variant.- a. Naskapi inherited a. variants, under variant.- native a. a. existing in its natural state, the two principal forms being serum a. and egg a.; it is soluble in water and not precipitated by diluted acids.- normal human serum a. a sterile preparation of serum a. obtained by fractionating blood plasma proteins from healthy persons; used as a transfusion material and to treat edema due to hypoproteinemia. SYN: dried human a..- serum a. the principal protein in plasma, present in blood plasma and in serous fluids. Participates in fatty acid transport and helps regulate the osmotic pressure of blood. It will also bind hormones, bilirubin, and drugs. SYN: blood a., plasma a., seralbumin.- a. tannate an astringent powder obtained by the action of tannic acid on a.; contains about 50% tannic acid; used as an astringent disinfectant in diarrhea and as a dusting powder.
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al·bu·min al-'byü-mən; 'al-.byü-, -byə- n any of numerous simple heat-coagulable water-soluble proteins that occur in blood plasma or serum, muscle, the whites of eggs, milk, and other animal substances and in many plant tissues and fluid* * *
n.a protein that is soluble in water and coagulated by heat. An example is serum albumin, which is found in blood plasma and is important for the maintenance of plasma volume. Albumin is synthesized in the liver; the inability to synthesize it is a prominent feature of chronic liver disease (cirrhosis).* * *
al·bu·min (al-buґmin) [albumen + -in] 1. any protein that is soluble in water and moderately concentrated salt solutions and is coagulable by heat. 2. the major plasma protein, approximately 60 per cent of the total, which is responsible for much of the plasma colloidal osmotic pressure and serves as a transport protein for large organic anions such as fatty acids, bilirubin, and many drugs; it also carries hormones such as cortisol and thyroxine when their specific binding globulins are saturated. It is synthesized in the liver. Decreased serum albumin (hypoalbuminemia) occurs in protein malnutrition, active inflammation, and serious hepatic and renal disease. Called also serum a. and seralbumin.
Medical dictionary. 2011.
