Biol. Chem. [ad. G. zymogen (Heidenhain, 1875): see ZYMO- and -GEN.] A substance formed in an organism, from which a ferment is produced. Also attrib.
1877. M. Foster, Physiol., II. i. (1878), 219. A pancreas taken fresh from the body … contains but little ready-made ferment, though there is present in it a body which, by some kind of decomposition, gives birth to the ferment…. To this body … Heidenhain has given the name of Zymogen.
1895. E. B. Wilson, Cell in Devel., 288. Zymogen granules.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., III. 306. A zymogen is the antecedent of the ferment of the secretion-pepsinogen, trypsinogen, for example.
So Zymogenetic, Zymogenic, Zymogenous adjs., producing a ferment, or causing fermentation.
1896. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., I. 528. Organisms … acting partly as ferments, partly as *zymogenetic cells.
1884. Klein, Micro-org., xxi. 187. Putrefactive and many *zymogenic organisms thrive well at ordinary temperatures.
1900. Nature, 13 Sept., 405. Zymnogenic … bacteria.
