Medical Definition of Respiratory burst
1.
Response of phagocytes to particles (particularly if opsonise d) and to agonists such as formyl peptides and phorbol esters, an enhanced uptake of oxygen leads to the production, by an NADH dependent system, of hydrogen peroxide, superoxide anions and hydroxyl radicals, all of which play a part in bactericidal activity.
Defects in the metabolic burst, as in chronic granulomatous disease, predispose to infection particularly with catalase positive bacteria and are usually fatal in childhood.
(27 Jun 1999)
Lexicographical Neighbors of Respiratory Burst
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