Inspissation is the process of thickening by

dehydration In physiology, dehydration is a lack of total body water, with an accompanying disruption of metabolic processes. It occurs when free water loss exceeds free water intake, usually due to exercise, disease, or high environmental temperature. Mil ...

Intentional use

Inspissation is the process used when heating high-

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...

containing media; for example to enable recovery of

bacteria Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among ...

for testing. Once inspissation has occurred, any stained bacteria, such as

Mycobacteria ''Mycobacterium'' is a genus of over 190 species in the phylum Actinomycetota, assigned its own family, Mycobacteriaceae. This genus includes pathogens known to cause serious diseases in mammals, including tuberculosis ('' M. tuberculosis'') and ...

, can then be isolated. A ''Serum inspissation'' or ''Fractional sterilization'' is a process of heating an article on 3 successive days as follows:

Pathologic inspissation

cystic fibrosis Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a rare genetic disorder that affects mostly the lungs, but also the pancreas, liver, kidneys, and intestine. Long-term issues include difficulty breathing and coughing up mucus as a result of frequent lung infections. O ...

, inspissation of secretions in the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts is a major mechanism of causing the disease.

Intentional use

Pathologic inspissation

References

Further reading