Explantation

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Taking a piece of living tissue from an organism so that it can be grown separately in a laboratory culture
2. The procedure of excising a fragment of living tissue from a body and transferring it to a artificial growth medium
3. Removing living cells or tissue from a donor organism in order to maintain or propagate them outside the body

Etymology: "Explantation" is a technical coinage built on "explant," a verb meaning to remove a piece of living tissue from an organism and grow it separately in a laboratory culture. The noun "explantation" names that act of removal itself, so the word describes a specific procedure rather than an everyday event. The word is formed from "explant" plus the suffix "-ation," which turns a verb into a noun for an action or process, as in "examination" or "preparation." The prefix "ex-" carries the sense of taking something out, while the root is the same one found in "implant," meaning to place something in. Together the parts give the literal sense of taking something out of the body and setting it apart for study or growth.

Synonyms: excision