arabinoside

[ ar-uh-bin-uh-sahyd, uh-rab-uh-nuh- ]

noun

, Biochemistry.

1. a glycoside of arabinose, especially any of those used in antiviral therapy as structural analogs of ribonucleosides.

Word History and Origins

Origin of arabinoside¹

First recorded in 1925–30; arabinose + -ide ( def )

Example Sentences

Of the 18 confirmed cases treated with adenine arabinoside, only 5, or 28%, succumbed.

From Time Magazine Archive

The team, comprising doctors from 15 universities, published its study in the New England Journal of Medicine and simultaneously announced it at a press conference at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Md. The findings are based on work with a drug called adenine arabinoside, a compound originally discovered in sponges, and on treatment of 50 patients with symptoms of herpes encephalitis.

From Time Magazine Archive

Though adenine arabinoside, which had earlier been tested unsuccessfully as an anticancer drug, has been used experimentally�and with encouraging results�on a variety of herpes infections since 1970, Dr. Alford and his associates are still not sure exactly how it works.

From Time Magazine Archive

But they are confident that adenine arabinoside, which has also shown some encouraging effects against such other members of the herpes family as the viruses that cause chicken pox and the painful nerve inflammation called shingles, is here to stay.

From Time Magazine Archive

Adenine arabinoside has proved so effective against this particular deadly disease, they agree that it would be unethical not to administer it.

From Time Magazine Archive