Autodigestion

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The phenomenon in which an organism utilizes its digestive enzymes to break down its own tissues, typically occurring during specific physiological processes
2. It describes the mechanism whereby an organism's enzymes degrade its own cellular structures as part of metabolic regulation
3. The process by which an organism's digestive enzymes act on its own tissues causing breakdown of cells

Etymology: "Autodigestion" is a plain compound: the Greek-derived prefix "auto-", meaning "self", joined to "digestion", the breaking-down of material into simpler parts. Put together, it names a process in which a cell or organism digests its own components rather than food taken from outside. The word's logic is therefore transparent. "Digestion" itself comes from Latin "digestio", from "digerere", "to separate or dissolve", and once biologists had a term for enzymes breaking down substances, "auto-" could be attached to describe the case where the body turned those same enzymes on itself. The prefix does the work of distinguishing this from ordinary digestion of a meal.

Synonyms: self-digestion