Di"a*stase (?), n. [Gr. separation, fr. , to stand apart; through + , , to stand, set: cf. F. diastase. Cf. Diastasis.] Physiol. Chem.

A soluble, nitrogenous ferment, capable of converting starch and dextrin into sugar.

⇒ The name is more particularly applied to that ferment formed during the germination of grain, as in the malting of barley; but it is also occasionally used to designate the amylolytic ferment contained in animal fluids, as in the saliva.

 

© Webster 1913.

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