Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Amylase |
AmylaseNoun1. Any of a group of proteins found in saliva and pancreatic juice and parts of plants; help convert starch to sugar. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
| Domain | Definition |
Medicine | An enzyme which hydrolyses starch to maltose. Source: European Union. (references) |
Health | An enzyme that helps the body digest starches. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Amylase is a saccharidase (an enzyme that cleaves polysaccharides) that is found in small quantities in human blood and larger quantities in human saliva. It is produced by both the pancreas and the salivary glands, to break down long-chain sugars (such as starch) into much smaller sugars.Amylase is also synthesised in the fruit of plants during ripening, causing them to become sweeterer.
Alpha-amylase cleaves the α(1-4)glycosidic linkages of amylose to yield maltose molecules (disaccharides of α-glucose).
Increased plasma levels in humans are found in:
The test for amylase is easy to perform and has been the main test for pancreatitis. Labs will usually measure either pancreatic amylase, or total amylase. If only pancreatic amylase is measured, an increase will not be noted with mumps or other salivary gland trauma.
- Salivary trauma (including aneasthetic intubation).
- Mumps - due to pressure on the salivary glands.
- Pancreatitis - because of damage to the cells that produce amylase.
- Renal failure - due to reduced excretion.
Unfortunately, due to amylase's small size, timing is critical when sampling blood for this measurement. Blood should preferably be taken soon after a bout of pancreatitis pain, otherwise it is excreted rapidly by the kidneys.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Amylase."
Crosswords: Amylase |
| English words defined with "amylase": ptyalin. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "amylase": Receptors, Cholecystokinin. (references) |
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Amylase and lipase are digestive enzymes formed in the pancreas. (references) | |
During acute attacks, the blood contains at least three times more amylase and lipase than usual. (references) | ||
Proteinuria, and mild elevations of transaminases, CPK, amylase, and creatinine have also been reported. (references) | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Amylase" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 97.10% of the time. "Amylase" is used about 69 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 97.1% | 67 | 40,952 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 1.45% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Noun (proper) | 1.45% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 69 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "amylase": fungal amylase. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "amylase": alpha-Amylase, beta-Amylase. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
amylase | 128 |
alpha amylase | 15 |
amylase enzyme | 14 |
salivary amylase | 13 |
amylase serum | 9 |
amylase enzymes | 6 |
elevated amylase | 6 |
amylase lipase | 5 |
alpha amylase experiment | 5 |
amylase inhibitor | 3 |
amylase test | 3 |
amylase assay | 3 |
amylase blood test | 3 |
amylase lipase protease | 2 |
pancreatic amylase | 2 |
amylase level | 2 |
fungal amylase | 2 |
amylase elevated serum | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "amylase"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Chinese | 淀粉酵素. (various references) | |
Danish | amylaser (diastasis), amylase. (various references) | |
Dutch | amylase (amylolytic ferments), diastase (diastase, diastasis, enzyme). (various references) | |
French | amylase. (various references) | |
German | Amylasen, Amylase. (various references) | |
Greek | αμυλάση. (various references) | |
Italian | amilasi. (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | アミノ糖 (amino-sugar, amusement, amusement center). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | アミラーゼ . (various references) | |
Pig Latin | amylaseay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | amilase, amílase. (various references) | |
Spanish | amilasa. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | амілаза. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "amylase": amylases. (additional references) | |
| |
"Amylase" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: amalyse, Amilcare, amylacea, amylas, Anycase, apyrase, maylase, Umlazi. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-e-l-m-s-y" | |
-1 letter: measly. | |
-2 letters: almas, almes, amyls, asyla, lamas, lames, lyase, males, mayas, meals, mealy, seamy, ylems. | |
-3 letters: aals, alae, alas, ales, alma, alme, alms, amas, amyl, asea, ayes, easy, elms, elmy, eyas, lama, lame, lams, lase, lays, leas, leys, lyes, lyse, maes, male, maya, mays, meal, mels, mesa, sale, same, seal, seam, slam, slay. | |
-5 letters: aa. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-e-l-m-s-y" | |
+1 letter: amylases, lamasery, seamanly. | |
+2 letters: amygdales, ashamedly, malarkeys, manslayer, mayapples, playmates, salarymen. | |
+3 letters: aneurysmal, cyclamates, manslayers, measurably, metastably, playmakers. | |
+4 letters: acrylamides, amaryllises, assemblyman, mayoralties, metanalyses, metanalysis, misanalyses, statesmanly, unashamedly. | |
+5 letters: amateurishly, asymmetrical, flamboyances, hypokalemias, immeasurably, majestically, metaphysical, rampageously, semantically, semiannually, shamefacedly. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
