albu'min

A group of protein substances, one of which is the chief and characteristic constituent of white of egg; substances also found in the blood, in chyle, lymph, and all serous fluids, as well as in the juice of flesh, in the brain, the pancreas, and the liquor amnii, and generally in all transudations from the blood ve els. They are coagulable by heat and by treatment with strong acids. In certain diseased conditions they are found in the urine. See albuminuria. They are present, in small quantities, in vegetable juices. In their chemical behavior the albumins are weak acids, forming salts (albuminates) with bases; they also combine with acids to forms the compounds known as acid as. For the properties and chemical composition of the different varieties of a. see egg a., serum a., and vegetable a. acid a. A compound formed by the action of an acid upon a. a. in urine, how to determine the amount present; see in appendix, page 893. a. in urine, test for, see in appendix, page 893. alkali a. The product formed by the action of weak alkalis upon albumin. Bence-Jones a. See under Bence-Jones. blood a. See serum a. circulating a. 1. Voit's term for the albumin present in the liquids of the body in non-organized form but utilizable by the ti ues in metabolism. The term is contrasted with ti ue albumin or protein contributing part of the living ti ue. 2. A. in solution in the lymph as distinguished from that stored in the ti ues. crystalline a. Different crystalline forms obtained from seeds and nuts. egg a. {albumen ovi, Br. Ph., 1867]. The variety of a. occurring in white of egg. incipient a. A name given by Prout to a variety of imperfect a. present in chyle and in chylous urine. muscle a. A variety of a. present in small quantities in the aqueous extract of muscular ti ue, myosin a. Of F. W. F. Ro , the mixed a's of meat, native a. An a. occurring in the natural state in animal or vegetable ti ues or juices, serum a. Syn.: blood a. The variety of a. present in blood serum and supposed to be identical with the form usually found in albuminous urine, soluble a. A. that has not been coagulated or so changed by chemical reagents as to be insoluble in water. vegetable a. The variety of a. found in vegetable ti ues and juices, whey a. An albuminous substance, readily soluble in water, obtained, along with another le soluble a., from whey. [Lat., albumen.]