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| the depression in the center of the surface of the abdomen indicating the point of attachment of the umbilical cord to the embryo; navel. |
| the tongue. |
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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- Q: I've heard researchers may need to use an immune booster, called an adjuvant, for flu vaccine.
- With the tetanus shot, the diptheria toxoid added acts as an adjuvant.
- For example, they have spent eight decades adding alum to vaccines as what is known as an adjuvant.
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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adjuvant ad·ju·vant (āj'ə-vənt)
n.
A pharmacological agent added to a drug, predictably affecting the action of the drug's active ingredient.
An immunological vehicle for enhancing antigenicity, such as a water-in-oil emulsion in which antigen solution is emulsified in mineral oil. Also called immunoadjuvant.
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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adjuvant
substance that enhances the effect of a particular medical treatment. Administration of one drug may enhance the effect of another. In anesthesia, for example, sedative drugs are customarily given before an operation to reduce the quantity of anesthetic drug needed. In immunology an adjuvant is a substance that increases the body's reaction to a foreign substance. The reaction to diphtheria toxoid-modified form of the toxin, or poisonous substance, produced by the organism that causes diphtheria-is increased, for example, if the toxoid is adsorbed (attached) to particles of aluminum hydroxide or aluminum phosphate.
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