Pain Dictionary
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- Maceration
- A softening or sogginess of the tissue owing to retention of excessive moisture.
- Macrophage
- White blood cell that is specialized for the uptake of particulate material by phagocytosis.
It is derived from blood monocytes that differentiate to macrophages after migrating from the circulating blood into the tissue. Macrophages from different sites have distinctly different properties. Main types are peritoneal, alveolar and tissue macrophages. Beside phagocytosis, tissue macrophages play an important part in wound healing as they synthesise and secrete cytokines to control the wound healing process. Macrophages also play an important role in killing of some bacteria, protozoa, and tumour cells and release substances that stimulate other cells of the immune system.
- Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs)
- Proteolytic enzymes necessary for growth, development and tissue repair and regeneration, which are produced by e.g. fibroblasts and macrophages.
Collagenases and elastases, are examples of MMPs that break down specific proteins and help to remodel the extracellular matrix.
- MBC
- Minimum Bactericidal Concentration.
- Membrane /Biological membrane
- A double layer of lipid molecules, so called phospholipids, that encloses all cells and, in eukaryotic cells, many organelles.
- Metabolism
- The sum total of the chemical processes that takes place in living cells.
- Metabolic activity
- See metabolism.
- MIC
- Minimum Inhibitory Concentration.
- Micrometer, μm, micron
- Micro- is a prefix denoting 10-6; A micrometer is 10-6 meter = 0.001 mm.
- Microbe
- See micro-organism.
- Micro-organism
- Organisms of microscopic size, generally less than 0.01 mm. Includes bacteria, fungi (yeasts and moulds), viruses, and protozoa.
- Mitochondrion
- Membrane-bounded organelle, about the size of a bacterium, which carries out oxidative phosphorylation and produces most of the ATP in eucaryotic cells.
Mitochondria are thus the cellular ‘powerhouse’ producing energy for overall cell metabolism and other active processes e.g. movement, wound healing processes
- Mitogen
- Extracellular substances, such as a growth factor, that stimulates cell proliferation (i.e. cell growth and division).
- Monocyte
- White blood cell, a so-called mononuclear phagocyte, in circulating blood, that will later pass into tissues and differentiate into a macrophage.
- MRSA
- Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus. MSRA are resistant to a range of antibiotics.
- Myofibroblasts
- Differentiated fibroblasts that contain actin microfilaments, myosin and other muscle proteins that produce contractile forces. They behave in a similar way as smooth muscle cells. These cells are motile and pull wound tissue together in the contraction phase of healing to reduce the wound volume.
