Deplasmolysis

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The process by which a plant cell that has shrunk away from its wall regains its volume after being returned to pure water
2. Recovery of a plasmolysed cell, in which water re-enters and the protoplast swells back against the cell wall
3. The restoration of turgor in a cell that had lost water and contracted, once it is placed in a hypotonic solution again

Etymology: Deplasmolysis is the process by which a plant cell that has shrivelled away from its cell wall swells back to firmness. It reverses plasmolysis, which occurs when a cell is placed in a strong salt or sugar solution and water leaves it, pulling the cell contents inward. The term is a technical coinage built from classical parts. "Plasma" comes from the Greek "plasma", meaning something moulded or formed, and "lysis" is Greek for loosening or dissolving. Botanists added the Latin prefix "de-", meaning reversal or removal, to name the recovery stage. The Greeks themselves never used the compound, which was assembled in modern scientific language from ancient building blocks.