trophotropismn.
/ˌtrɒfəˈtrəʊpɪz(ə)m/, /ˌtrəʊfəˈtrəʊpɪz(ə)m/, U.S. /ˌtrɑfəˈtroʊˌpɪzəm/, /ˌtroʊfəˈtroʊˌpɪzəm/; see also tropho- comb. form. 1. Movement of an organism, part of an organism, or cell towards or away from a source of nutrients; cf. trophotaxis n. at tropho- comb. form 1. Now rare.
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the world > life > biology > biological processes > movement > movement in response to stimuli > [noun] > response to food source
trophotropism1884
trophotaxis1892
magnetotaxis1963
1884 Jrnl. Royal Microsc. Soc. 4 604 To this property of moving towards the spots where the supply of nutriment is most abundant Stahl gives the name trophotropism.
1906 Lancet 27 Oct. 1161/2 The problem of digestion is intimately related to that of chemotaxis, or more especially to that variety called by Stahl ‘trophotropism’, both positive and negative.
1944 H. W. Graham & N. Bronikovsky Genus Ceratium in Pacific & N. Atlantic Oceans (Carnegie Inst. Publ. No. 565) 13/1 Is it not possible that we have to deal here not only with a phototropism but a trophotropism as well?
2. Movement of placental cells towards a site of optimal nutrition within the uterus.
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1964 Obstetr. & Gynecol. 24 833/1 The reason for the higher incidence [of single umbilical artery] in twins is sought in phenomena of placental wandering (trophotropism).
1971 Current Probl. Pediatrics 2 13 The phenomenon has been called trophotropism, i.e., the wandering of the villous placental tissue to an area of optimal placental growth.
2011 R. N. Baergen Man. Pathol. Human Placenta (ed. 2) xv. 267 Trophotropism also plays a role in the development of abnormal placental shapes.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1884