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Glite Dictionary
pyocyanase

pyocyanase

9.9
A yellow-green mix of medicines once used to treat infections
  • noun
  • /ˌpaɪoʊˈsaɪəneɪs/
  • Archaic
: piocianasa
  • Early 20th-century doctors experimented with pyocyanase as a treatment for bacterial infections.

Examples

  • The laboratory grew a strain of bacteria that naturally produced pyocyanase.

  • Pyocyanase has largely been replaced by modern antibiotics in clinical practice.

  • The pyocyanase treatment was effective.

  • Dr. Smith recommended pyocyanase for the infection.

  • Pyocyanase was once a popular antibiotic for treating serious bacterial infections.

  • In the past, pyocyanase was used to combat infections caused by Pseudomonas bacteria.

  • Pyocyanase is derived from the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa and was utilized in early antibiotic treatments.

Surface Forms

pyocyanase singular
pyocyanases plural

Morphology

pyocyanase = pyocyanin (opaque) = pyocyanin + ase

The components are technical combining forms ('pyocyanin' + '-ase') and the resulting term names a specialized antibiotic mixture rather than following a clear, productive everyday meaning.

Etymology

Pyocyanase comes from three parts: pyo- 'pus', cyano- 'blue', and -ase which marks a substance. Because the bacterium Pseudomonas makes a blue-green pigment, the antibiotic mixture made from it was called pyocyanase, so the name links the drug to its colour and source.