ASTROCYTE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does astrocyte mean? 

• ASTROCYTE (noun)
  The noun ASTROCYTE has 1 sense:

1. comparatively large neuroglial cell

  Familiarity information: ASTROCYTE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ASTROCYTE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Comparatively large neuroglial cell

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Hypernyms ("astrocyte" is a kind of...):

glial cell; neurogliacyte; neuroglial cell (a cell of the neuroglia)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "astrocyte"):

fibrous astrocyte (star-shaped cells with long processes; found in the white matter of the brain and spinal cord)

protoplasmic astrocyte (a kind of astrocyte found in the grey matter)

Holonyms ("astrocyte" is a part of...):

astroglia; macroglia (tissue consisting of large stellate neuroglial cells)

Derivation:

astrocytic (of or relating to or containing large star-shaped cells in the neuroglia)

 Context examples 

This protein may be involved in both neuronal maintenance and astrocyte morphology and motility.

(Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein, NCI Thesaurus)

The types of glial cells include oligodendrocytes, astrocytes, microglia, and ependymal cells.

(Glial cell, NCI Dictionary)

This allele, which encodes glial fibrillary acidic protein, may play a role in the modulation of both motility and cellular morphology of astrocytes.

(GFAP wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)

It is composed of poorly differentiated neoplastic astrocytes and it is characterized by the presence of cellular polymorphism, nuclear atypia, brisk mitotic activity, vascular thrombosis, microvascular proliferation and necrosis.

(Glioblastoma, NCI Thesaurus/WHO)

Morphologically, it is characterized by the presence of collagenous tissue surrounding neoplastic astrocytes.

(Gliofibroma, NCI Thesaurus)

It resembles an astrocyte and is found around blood vessels and among groups of pinealocytes.

(Interstitial Cell of the Pineal Gland, NCI Thesaurus)

The production of a dense fibrous network of neuroglia; includes astrocytosis, which is a proliferation of astrocytes in the area of a degenerative lesion.

(Gliosis, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

This gene may be involved in the regulation of astrocyte morphology and function.

(GFAP Gene, NCI Thesaurus)

A pathologic astrocyte in which the cell body swells and contains glial filaments and an eccentric nucleus; seen particularly in demyelinating and neoplastic conditions.

(Gemistocytic Neoplastic Astrocyte, NCI Thesaurus)

A WHO grade I large cystic tumor that occurs almost exclusively in infants, with a prominent desmoplastic stroma having a neuroepithelial population of neoplastic astrocytes together with a variable neuronal component.

(Desmoplastic Infantile Ganglioglioma, NCI Thesaurus/Adapted from WHO)