Fibroblasts

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A category of cells that generate fibers for connective tissue and support structures in the body
2. These cells are essential in the healing process through their role in forming scars and repairing tissue damage
3. Specialized cells that synthesize collagen and other fibers to maintain the structure of connective tissues

Etymology: "Fibroblasts" is the plural of "fibroblast", and the word is built from two combining forms. "Fibro-" comes from the Latin "fibra", meaning fibre or filament, and gives English words about fibrous tissue such as "fibrosis" and "fibroid". "-blast" comes from the Greek "blastos", meaning a bud, sprout or germ, and in biology it denotes an immature or precursor cell, as in "osteoblast" (a bone-forming cell) or "blastocyst". Put together, the name describes a cell that gives rise to fibres. Fibroblasts are the cells that produce the collagen and other fibrous proteins which give connective tissue, such as skin, tendon and scar tissue, its strength. The word is a modern scientific coinage assembled from these classical parts rather than a term the ancient Greeks or Romans used, and it belongs to the wave of biological vocabulary built from Greek and Latin roots in the 19th and 20th centuries.