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GERM LAYER
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
(embryology) any of the 3 layers of cells differentiated in embryos following gastrulation
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("germ layer" is a kind of...):
embryonic tissue (tissue in an embryo)
Domain category:
embryology (the branch of biology that studies the formation and early development of living organisms)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "germ layer"):
ectoblast; ectoderm; exoderm (the outer germ layer that develops into skin and nervous tissue)
mesoblast; mesoderm (the middle germ layer that develops into muscle and bone and cartilage and blood and connective tissue)
endoblast; endoderm; entoblast; entoderm; hypoblast (the inner germ layer that develops into the lining of the digestive and respiratory systems)
Context examples:
A type of pluripotent stem cells derived from early stage human embryos, up to and including the blastocyst stage, that are capable of dividing without differentiating for a prolonged period in culture, and are known to develop into cells and tissues of the three primary germ layers.
(human embryonic stem cell (hESC), The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
An embryonic cell of the inner layer of three germ layers that forms the yolk sac and gives rise to the epithelium of the alimentary and respiratory tracts and the parenchyma of associated glands.
(Endoderm Cell, NCI Thesaurus)
After the blastocyst stage of embryonic development, the inner cell mass of the blastocyst goes through gastrulation, a period when the inner cell mass becomes organized into three distinct cell layers, called germ layers.
(Germ layers, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
