Definition of dedifferentiate in English:
dedifferentiate
verbˌdiːdɪfəˈrɛnʃɪeɪtdēˌdifəˈren(t)SHēˌāt
[no object]Biology (of a cell or tissue) undergo a reversal of differentiation and lose specialized characteristics.
some types of human cells dedifferentiate in culture, becoming primitive, unspecialized cells
Example sentencesExamples
- For example, they found that the proliferating cells dedifferentiated, meaning they temporarily lost the characteristics of mature heart muscle cells and reverted to a more fetal type of proliferating cell.
- By manipulating niche signals, they could make the stem cells differentiate, then dedifferentiate again.
- A third approach is to use one's own specialized cells and dedifferentiate them.
- The ability to dedifferentiate stem cells (the article uses the term retrodifferentiation) would be incredibly valuable just for leukemia treatment.
- The search for compounds to differentiate and dedifferentiate (specialize and despecialize) stem cells is accelerating due to advances in biotechnology for growing and screening cells.
Derivatives
noun
Biology Our case could be an example of such a dedifferentiation.
Example sentencesExamples
- This dedifferentiation disrupts further co-ordinated development which ultimately causes seed abortion.
- This probably reflects the presence of stem cells in the nail bud rather than cell dedifferentiation.
- In fact, compounds that cause cellular dedifferentiation have already been found.
- In the presented tumor, there was no indication for dedifferentiation.