Definition of Collagenase
1. Noun. Any enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of collagen and gelatin.
Definition of Collagenase
1. Noun. (biology) An enzyme that breaks the peptide bonds in collagen. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Collagenase
1. [n -S]
Medical Definition of Collagenase
1.
Proteolytic enzyme capable of breaking native collagen. Once the initial cleavage is made, less specific proteases will complete the degradation.
Collagenases from mammalian cells are metallo enzymes and are collagen type specific. May be released in latent (proenzyme) form into tissues and require activation by other proteases before they will degrade fibrillar matrix. Bacterial collagenases are used in tissue disruption for cell harvesting.
This entry appears with permission from the Dictionary of Cell and Molecular Biology
(11 Mar 2008)
Lexicographical Neighbors of Collagenase
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