专业术语—口腔生理学术语M1(英文详解)（在线收听）

    Macrophages - cells derived from monocytes which have the ability to phagocytose foreign particles and dead tissue and to move through tissue, or to remain fixed in one place. There are many macrophages in the spleen where they remove dead red blood cells from the circulation.

    Major salivary glands - are three large glands on each side of the face; the parotid, submandibular and submaxillary.

    Malleus - one of the three bones of the inner ear. The others are the stapes and the incus.

    Mastication - the process of preparing food for swallowing and digestion by chewing it.

    Matrix - comes from the Latin word "mater"meaning mother. It is a structure which encloses or holds something within it. Cells are held or enclosed in a matrix of fibres, water and large molecules called the ground substance.

    Matrix vesicles. - small bubble-like structures containing calcium-binding phospholipids and alkaline phosphatase. Crystals of hydroxyapatite from inside the vesicle which ruptures and releasing crystals into the surrounding osteoid or predentine so as to start mineralising it.

    Mechano-receptors- sensory receptors which respond when mechanically deformed by pressure, tension, vibration or touch.

    Mesenchyme - dental mesenchyme is tissue derived from the mesoderm of the embryo and which has been infiltrated and highly influenced by migrating cells from theneural crest.

    Mesial drift - a gradual movement of all the posterior teeth in a mesial direction. It occurs only if there has been interproximal wear between the teeth. The drift is not a passive one however, as it has been shown that during chewing, the bite force has a a mesial component.

    Mesial - towards the midline.

    Mesoderm - the middle of the three cell layers which form, as the clump of early embryonic cells begins to differentiate. The mesoderm will form the muscles, blood system, connective tissue, including bone and dentine, the kidneys and the dermis of the skin. The other two layers are the ectoderm and theendoderm.

    Messenger RNA - a ribose nucleic acid acid which caries the DNA code in matching nucleotides, from the nucleus to the ribosome of the cell.

    Metabolise - to obtain energy by breaking down a molecule into smaller components, as in respiration or to store energy by building a more complex molecule out of smaller components. It always takes place in a number of stages, controlled by enzymes. Each step in the process follows a predictable "metabolic" pathway for that reaction.