noun

• The rupture of bacterial cells, especially by an antibody.

  ‘This process, which he called hemolysis, was analogous to bacteriolysis and also required complement.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Once the complement is bound, it attacks the antigen: the bacterium is destroyed by bacteriolysis.’
  • ‘Further, when centrifugal separation or filtration is carried out in order to separate the bacterial cells, a long time is required because the bacterial cells have caused bacteriolysis.’
  • ‘Serum antibodies to capsular polysaccharides confer protection against meningococcal disease by activating complement-dependent bacteriolysis and, possibly, by opsonization.’
  • ‘The complement system plays an important role in a host's defence mechanisms, such as in immune bacteriolysis, neutralization of viruses, immune adherence, immunoconglutination and in enhancement of phagocytosis.’