a chemical substance that destroys, or impairs the function of, specific living cells
cytotoxin in American English
(ˌsaitəˈtɑksɪn)
noun
Immunology & Pharmacology
a substance that has a toxic effect on certain cells
Derived forms
cytotoxic
adjective
Word origin
[1900–05; cyto- + toxin]This word is first recorded in the period 1900–05. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: Young Turk, burnout, desensitize, hydroplane, throwawaycyto- is a combining form meaning “cell,” used in the formation of compound words. Otherwords that use the affix cyto- include: cytosol, cytotaxonomy, cytotropic, endocytobiology, immunocytochemistry
Examples of 'cytotoxin' in a sentence
cytotoxin
Cytotoxin-affected cells appeared rounded, refractile and detached from the surface of the vessel.
João Ramos Costa Andrade, Ítalo Suassuna 1988, 'Atividades citotóxica e hemolítica em Escherichia coli uropatogênicas Citotoxic andhemolytic activities of uropathogenic Escherichia coli', Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz.http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0074-02761988000200008. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)