Lexic.us

Definition of Dedifferentiation

1. Noun. The loss of specialization in form or function.

Definition of Dedifferentiation

1. Noun. The loss or reversal of differentiation. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Medical Definition of Dedifferentiation

1. Loss of differentiated characteristics. In plants, most cells, including the highly differentiated haploid microspores (immature pollen cells) of angiosperms, can lose their differentiatiated features and give rise to a whole plant. In animals this is less certain and there is still controversy as to whether the undifferentiated cells of the blastema that forms at the end of an amputated amphibian limb (for example) are derived by dedifferentiation or by proliferation of uncommitted cells. Neither is it clear whether dedifferentiation in animal cells might just be the temporary loss of phenotypic characters, with retention of the determination to a particular cell type. This entry appears with permission from the Dictionary of Cell and Molecular Biology (11 Mar 2008)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Dedifferentiation

Literary usage of Dedifferentiation

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Senescence and Rejuvenescence by Charles Manning Child (1915)
"accumulated as a structural component of the cell is now broken down, oxidized, and eliminated, may bring about dedifferentiation, but it is not necessarily ..."

2. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society Held at Philadelphia for by American Philosophical Society (1916)
"The periods of growth and differentiation, in short of development, are the periods of senescence, the periods of dedifferentiation and reduction, ..."

3. The Harvey Lectures by Harvey Society of New York, New York Academy of Medicine (1914)
"Similarly, any adult animal or plant which is capable of dedifferentiation is also capable of renewing its youth. It has long been known that encystment and ..."

4. Individuality in Organisms by Charles Manning Child (1915)
"Consequently it undergoes dedifferentiation to a greater or less degree and so approaches or returns to the undifferentiated or embryonic condition, ..."

5. Botanical Gazette by University of Chicago, JSTOR (Organization) (1916)
"It is found possible by starving in these animals to bring about dedifferentiation and complete rejuvenescence. By starvation the obstacles to metabolism ..."

6. Biological Bulletin by Marine Biological Laboratory (Woods Hole, Mass.) (1912)
"Fertilization then saves both the egg and the sperm nucleus from death and initiates the process of dedifferentiation and rejuvenescence by making further ..."

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