Library / English Dictionary

SKIN CELL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of the cells making up the skin

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Hypernyms ("skin cell" is a kind of...):

somatic cell; vegetative cell (any of the cells of a plant or animal except the reproductive cells; a cell that does not participate in the production of gametes)

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

epidermal cell (any of the cells making up the epidermis)

prickle cell (a cell in the germinal layer of the skin (the prickle-cell layer); has many spines and radiating processes)

Holonyms ("skin cell" is a part of...):

cutis; skin; tegument (a natural protective body covering and site of the sense of touch)

Credits

 Context examples: 

In nature, animals such as chameleons and cuttlefish are able to change colour thanks to chromatophores: skin cells with contractile fibres that move pigments around.

(Colour-changing artificial ‘chameleon skin’ powered by nanomachines, University of Cambridge)

Endogenously, a-MSH is released by skin cells in response to UVR exposure, stimulating melanocytes to produce and release melanin.

(Afamelanotide, NCI Thesaurus)

Having to do with skin cancer that forms in the lower part of the epidermis (the outer layer of the skin) or in squamous cells, but not in melanocytes (skin cells that make pigment).

(Nonmelanomatous, NCI Dictionary)

The PIEZO2 gene encodes what scientists call a mechanosensitive protein which produces electrical nerve signals in response to changes in cell shape, such as when skin cells and neurons of the hand are pressed against a table.

(Study identifies gene that makes gentle touch feel painful after injury, National Institutes of Health)

Piezo2 is what scientists call a mechanosensitive protein because it generates electrical nerve signals in response to changes in cell shape, such as when skin cells and neurons of the hand are pressed against a table.

(“Sixth sense” may be more than just a feeling, NIH)

Used topically or systemically, natural or synthetic Anti-psoriatic agents relieve symptoms of psoriasis by controlling rapid growth of skin cells, reducing DNA synthesis and mitotic activity in hyperplastic epidermis, and restoring normal epidermal cell proliferation and keratinization.

(Anti-psoriatic Agent, NCI Thesaurus)