Medical Laboratory Terminology

noun a salt or ester of lactic acid

verb to produce or secrete milk sugar (lactose) in the mammary glands

• Lactate is produced in the muscles during intense exercise.
• I heard that lactate buildup can make your muscles sore after a tough workout.
• My legs were burning from all the lactate during that workout.
• The team's performance started to lactate as they approached the end of the game.

noun a slender tube attached to or incorporating a bulb, for transferring or measuring out small quantities of liquid, especially in a laboratory.

• The scientist used a pipette to transfer precise amounts of liquid into the test tubes.
• I need to grab a pipette to measure out the chemicals for this experiment.
• Hey, can you pass me that fancy dropper thingy? I think it's called a pipette.
• She carefully pipetted her emotions into her journal, one drop at a time.

noun a substance or chemical component that is being analyzed, typically in a scientific or medical context

• The laboratory technician used a spectrophotometer to measure the concentration of the analyte in the sample.
• The scientist is looking at the analyte under the microscope to see its structure.
• I need to run some tests on this analyte to see what's going on.
• The analyte of the situation revealed the underlying problem that needed to be addressed.