a failure of the body to distinguish between materials that are ‘self’, and therefore to be tolerated, and those that are ‘not self’, against which it mounts an *immune response. Tolerance results from the interaction of antigens with lymphocytes under conditions in which the lymphocytes are not activated but rendered unresponsive.
This occurs when the response to a particular amount of a drug or physiological messenger decreases, so that a larger dose must be given to produce the same response as before. It is particularly common with certain drug dependencies (see DEPENDENCE): for example, with MORPHINE or HEROIN.... tolerance
A way of assessing the body’s e?ciency at metabolising GLUCOSE. The test is used in the diagnosis of DIABETES MELLITUS. The patient is starved for up to 16 hours, after which he or she is fed glucose by mouth. The concentrations of glucose in the blood and urine are then measured at half-hour intervals over a period of two hours.... glucose-tolerance test
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