dedifferentiation

dedifferentiation — noun

1. a process in which cells or tissues lose the special form or job they had and re

1.nounC2
Definition

a process in which cells or tissues lose the special form or job they had and return to a simpler state.

Example

Ryo's team tracked dedifferentiation in skin cells around the burn.

dedifferentiation in + cells/tissue

Under the microscope, the roots showed dedifferentiation after the stem was cut.

showed dedifferentiation after injury

Common collocations
  • cell dedifferentiation
  • tissue dedifferentiation
  • undergo dedifferentiation
  • show dedifferentiation
  • trigger dedifferentiation
Synonyms
  • cellular reprogramming

    broader term that can include several kinds of change in cell identity

  • reversion

    more general return to an earlier state; dedifferentiation is specific to loss of specialization

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

dedifferentiation in + cells/tissue

dedifferentiation of + cells

undergo dedifferentiation

Usage Note

Mostly used in biology and medicine, especially for cells near an injury or in a tumour. It often appears after verbs such as undergo, show, or trigger.

Common Mistakes

The cells became dedifferentiation after the cut.
The cells underwent dedifferentiation after the cut.
dedifferentiation is a noun, so use it after verbs such as undergo or show.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Dedifferentiation is not the same as differentiation, which moves cells toward a more fixed job. It is also narrower than cellular reprogramming, a broader label for changing cell identity in different ways. Regeneration often comes after dedifferentiation, but regeneration is the larger repair process, not the first step where cells lose their earlier role. In a lab report, you might say that damaged fin tissue showed dedifferentiation before new growth started. You would not use regeneration if you only mean the cells first became less specialized.

differentiation ↗cellular reprogrammingregeneration ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • cell dedifferentiation
  • tissue dedifferentiation

Verbs

  • undergo dedifferentiation
  • show dedifferentiation
  • trigger dedifferentiation

Phrases

  • dedifferentiation before regeneration

Adjectives

  • partial dedifferentiation

Prepositions

  • dedifferentiation in
  • dedifferentiation of

Etymology

LatinEnglish

The word combines the reversing prefix de- with differentiation. In modern biology, it is used for cells that move back from a specialized role to a less specialized state.