psychrosensitive

English

WOTD – 19 April 2024

Etymology

From psychro- (prefix meaning ‘cold’) +‎ sensitive.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌsaɪkɹə(ʊ)ˈsɛnsɪtɪv/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌsaɪkɹəˈsɛnsɪtɪv/
• Hyphenation: psy‧chro‧sen‧sit‧ive

Adjective

psychrosensitive (comparative more psychrosensitive, superlative most psychrosensitive)

1. (sciences) Sensitive to the cold. [from 20th c.]

   Synonyms: cold-sensitive, cryosensitive

   Antonym: psychrophilic

   • 1965, Frank Fenner, F[rancis] N[oble] Ratcliffe, “The Continuing Evolution of Myxomatosis”, in Myxomatosis, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, →OCLC, page 341:

     [A]ttenuated strains of myxoma virus, like attenuated strains of poliovirus type I, are less thermoresistant and less psychrosensitive (in their replication) than virulent strains.

   • 1970 October, Roger Weil, Jindřich Kára, “Polyoma ‘Tumor Antigen’: An Activator of Chromosome Replication?”, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, volume 67, number 2, Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, →PMID, page 1016:

     The experimental results described above, considered with those reported elsewhere, are compatible with the hypothesis that T-antigen, upon reaching a critical concentration, triggers a psychrosensitive (cold-sensitive) event(s) which leads to the activation of the cellular DNA-synthesizing apparatus and, as a consequence, to the replication of the host cell chromosomes.

   • 1974, R[oger] Weil, C. Salomon, E. May, P. May, “A New Look at the Mode of Action of Polyoma and Related Tumor Viruses”, in Edouard Kurstak, Karl Maramorosch, editors, Viruses, Evolution and Cancer: Basic Considerations, New York, N.Y.: Academic Press, →ISBN, part V (Comparative Viral Oncology), page 468:

     The sequence of events of the lytic infection is essentially the same at 27°C as during infection at 37°C. However, due to a cold-sensitive metabolic process ("psychrosensitive event") that is intercalated between the appearance of T antigen and virus-induced chromatin replication, the time course of infection is considerably slower at 27°C […].

   • 2018 July 5, Leendert Vergeynst, Kasper U. Kjeldsen, Pia Lassen, Søren Rysgaard, “Bacterial Community Succession and Degradation Patterns of Hydrocarbons in Seawater at Low Temperature”, in Journal of Hazardous Materials, volume 353, New York, N.Y.: Elsevier, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, →PMID, abstract, page 127:

     [B]acterial taxa which we identified as psychrosensitive were inhibited, whereas taxa identified as psychrophilic flourished.

Related terms

• psychrosensitivity

Translations

sensitive to the cold — see cold-sensitive

See also

• nesh (Britain, dialectal)
• thermosensitive

Further reading

• cold sensitivity on Wikipedia.Wikipedia