enkephalin: Meaning and Definition of

en•keph•al•in

Pronunciation: (en-kef'u-lin), [key]
— n. Biochem.
  1. either of two pentapeptides that bind to morphine receptors in the central nervous system and have opioid properties of relatively short duration; one pentapeptidehas the amino acid sequence Tyr-Gly-Gly-Phe-Met and the otherhas the sequence Tyr-Gly-Gly-Phe-Leu.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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