The word "explant" is spelled with the letter "x" and the letter combination "pl". The "x" represents the phoneme /ks/, while the "pl" combination represents the phoneme /pl/. The stress in the word is on the second syllable, which is spelled with the letter "a". The IPA phonetic transcription for "explant" is /ɛksˈplænt/. This word is commonly used in plant biology, where it refers to the process of removing and culturing plant tissue in vitro.
Explant can be defined as a verb or noun, depending on the context. As a verb, explant means to remove or extract living plant or animal tissue from its natural environment or original organism for further study, analysis, or experimental purposes. This typically involves removing and transferring the tissue to an appropriate laboratory or growth medium. Explantation is a common technique employed in various scientific disciplines, including biology, medicine, and agriculture, where researchers may study the behavior, development, or responses of the extracted tissues under controlled conditions.
As a noun, explant refers to the piece of living tissue that has been excised or removed from its original organism. These explants are often utilized in experiments aimed at investigating cellular behavior, tissue regeneration, disease progression, drug testing, or genetic studies. For example, in plant tissue culture, an explant can be a cutting or section of a plant used to initiate a new growth or generate clones. Similarly, in medical research, explants can be extracted from patients for diagnostic purposes, such as analyzing tumors or assessing the presence of infectious agents.
Overall, explantation plays a crucial role in advancing scientific knowledge and understanding by allowing scientists and researchers to study living tissues under controlled conditions, enabling various applications in fields like biotechnology, agriculture, or medicine.
To transfer from the body to an artificial medium for growth.
A practical medical dictionary. By Stedman, Thomas Lathrop. Published 1920.
The word "explant" originates from the Latin prefix "ex-" meaning "out" or "away" and the Latin word "planta" which means "a shoot or cutting". The term was first used in the field of botany to refer to the act of removing and transplanting a shoot or tissue sample from a plant for laboratory study or growth. Over time, the term "explant" has also been adopted in other scientific disciplines, such as medicine, specifically in the context of removing tissue or an organ from a living organism for further examination, research, or transplantation.