sperminen.
/ˈspəːmiːn/ Chemistry.
A toxin extracted from the pancreas and some other parts of the body.
ΚΠ
1892 Lancet 16 July 175/1 Professor de Poehl..had succeeded in extracting from the pancreas, thyroid body, ovaries and testes a leucomaine called spermine.
1898 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. V. 647 A compound of phosphoric acid and a base ‘Spermin’.
1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VIII. 50 Oppenheim once observed tetany after a spermin injection.
1927 H. W. Dudley et al. in Biochem. Jrnl. XXI. 97 This base has been given the name spermidine since it not only occurs in association with spermine but also has been found to be structurally related to the latter substance.
1937 Thorpe's Dict. Appl. Chem. (ed. 4) I. 315/1 The polyamino-compounds are of little interest with the exception of spermine, a tetra~amino derivative of the constitution NH2·[CH2]3·NH·[CH2]4·NH·[CH2]3·NH2, first isolated from human semen by Schreiner, and occurring in many mammalian organs.
1964 A. White et al. Princ. Biochem. (ed. 3) xxvi. 538 Spermine and spermidine are present in significant amounts in ribosomes and appear to be essential to their structure and function.
1974 Nature 17 May 250/1 The polyamines spermine spermidine and their precursor putrescine occur ubiquitously and in high concentrations in animals and plants.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1986; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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