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Definition: Phagocytosis |
PhagocytosisNoun1. Process in which phagocytes engulf and digest microorganisms and cellular debris; an important defense against infection. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
| Domain | Definitions |
Health | The engulfing of microorganisms, other cells, and foreign particles by phagocytic cells. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Phagocytosis is found only among eukaryotes. Lower life forms use phagocytosis as a means of feeding, whereas higher species use it to fight infection. Many protists obtain part or all of their nourishment by phagocytosis of smaller organisms, called phagotrophic nutrition to distinguish it from nourishment by absorption, which is called osmotrophic nutrition.
Macrophages, a type of blood cell, consume pathogens by phagocytosis. Along with granulocytes, macrophages are one of the most effective phagocytic cells in vertebrates. Granulocytes are smaller phagocytes, and a type of white blood cell. Macrophages and granulocytes move towards infected areas, where they engulf bacteria. Virulent bacteria may need to be coated with antibodies before it is possible to phagocytose them, showing the importance of antibodies in fighting infection.
In many cells, phagocytosis takes place by surrounding the target object with pseudopods. In others, food particles are swept into a particular cavity within the cell, called a cytostome or mouth. In both cases, it ends up in an intracellular chamber, called a vacuole, which may be merged with lysosomes containing digestive enzymes. Once the object has been broken down, the resulting matter is absorbed into the cytosol.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Phagocytosis."
Crosswords: Phagocytosis |
| English words defined with "phagocytosis": Elie Metchnikoff, Elie Metchnikov ♦ Ilya Ilich Metchnikov ♦ Metchnikoff, Metchnikov ♦ opsonisation, opsonization. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "phagocytosis": Cell Migration Inhibition, Complement 3b ♦ Immunity, Natural, Interferons. (references) |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | In addition, granulocyte phagocytosis and killing functions appear to be impaired by cellulosic dialysis membranes. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Phagocytosis" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Phagocytosis" is used about 9 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 9 | 117,287 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
phagocytosis | 42 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "phagocytosis"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | fagocytose. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | fagocytose. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | fagosytoosi. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | phagocytose (f), phagocytose. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Phagozytose. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | φαγοκύττωση, φαγοκυττάρωση. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | fagocitosi. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 식균작용. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | agocytosisphay fagocitose. (various references) fagocitozã. (various references) fagocitosis (phagocitosis). (various references) fagocytos. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-g-h-i-o-o-p-s-s-t-y" | |
-2 letters: sociopaths, sociopathy. | |
-3 letters: scotopias, sociopath. | |
-4 letters: copyists, isopachs, isotachs, oophytic, potassic, scotopia, soothsay, toyshops. | |
-5 letters: aphotic, cahoots, cashoos, cogitos, cohosts, copyist, gaposis, goatish, gossipy, gothics, isopach, isotach, isotopy, oocysts, opacity, photics, photogs, physics, psoatic, psychos, scotias, sophist, spastic, spathic, spigots, toyshop. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-g-h-i-o-o-p-s-s-t-y" | |
+4 letters: metapsychologies, parapsychologist. | |
+5 letters: parapsychologists, psychopathologies, psychopathologist. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)50 68 61 67 6F 63 79 74 6F 73 69 73 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references).--. .... .- --. --- -.-. -.--. - --- ... .. ... |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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| Amazon.com BOOKS: Search for: "phagocytosis" |
