microsomal

1 8.8

Made from small parts inside cells that have proteins which change drugs and chemicals

adjective
/ˌmaɪkrəˈsoʊməl/

Specialized

: microsomal

Certain pathways involving microsomal proteins are crucial for cellular metabolism and detoxification.

Examples

Table 1. Infectivity titers in the microsomal fraction of 4 patients with sCJDMM1 infection. *sCJD, sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease; ID50, 50% infectious dose. Brain tissue equivalent.

Academic text (2012)
The study focused on the role of microsomal enzymes in drug metabolism in liver cells.
Researchers analyzed the microsomal fraction to understand how antibiotics are processed in the body.

Surface Forms

microsomal positive

Morphology

microsomal = microsome (opaque) = micro + some + al

The adjective is formed regularly with -al from microsome, but microsome is a specialized biological term, so the meaning is not readily predictable for an average learner.

Etymology

The word microsomal comes from the parts micro- ('small') and soma ('body'), so it literally means 'small body'. That's why microsomal describes tiny parts or 'small bodies' inside cells that scientists study.