Medical Definition of Intermediate filament
1.
A class of cytoplasmic filaments of animal cells so named originally because their diameter (nominally 10 nm) in muscle cells was intermediate between thick and thin filaments. Unlike microfilaments and microtubules, the protein sub units of intermediate filaments show considerable diversity and tissue specificity.
See: cytokeratins, desmin, glial fibrillary acidic protein, neurofilament proteins, nestin and vimentin
This entry appears with permission from the Dictionary of Cell and Molecular Biology
(11 Mar 2008)
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Lexicographical Neighbors of Intermediate Filament
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