prozymogenn.
/prəʊˈzʌɪmədʒ(ə)n/, U.S. /proʊˈzaɪmədʒ(ə)n/ Biochemistry.
A precursor of a zymogen (an inactive form of a (usually digestive) enzyme); prozymogen granule n. an intermediate stage in zymogen granule formation occurring prior to full condensation of the secretory material, characterized by the heterogeneous appearance of the vesicles.
ΚΠ
1890 A. B. Macallum in Trans. Canad. Inst. 1 271 The chromatin of the nucleus of the pancreatic cell gives rise to a substance which we may call 'prozymogen', sometimes dissolved in the nuclear substance, sometimes collected in masses (plasmosomata), and finally diffused into the cell protoplasm, uniting with a constituent of the latter as zymogen.
1911 R. R. Bensley in Amer. Jrnl. Anat. 12 356 Under certain conditions, there may be seen..at the junction of the basal zone and the zone of the zymogen granules an intermediate zone of small granules of irregular shape, which I regard as zymogen granules in process of formation, and therefore call prozymogen granules.
1939 A. T. Shohl Mineral Metabolism ix. 205 Iron has been found constantly in the chromatin material of animal and plant cells..and in the prozymogen granules.
1972 Developm. Biol. 29 436 The ‘prozymogen granules’..did not represent a stage in granule formation between the condensing vacuoles in the Golgi and the definitive zymogen granules.
1999 Biochem. & Molecular Biol. Internat. 47 217 Pallabin was synthesized as a prozymogen with 260 amino acids, which includes a signal peptide of 18 amino acids.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1890