keratinise

Thân thiện

The skin on his heels began to keratinise from years of walking barefoot.

Definition

1. Verb (Intransitive):

   • To become horny and impregnated with keratin: The process by which living cells, typically in the skin, hair, or nails, die and are filled with the tough, fibrous protein called keratin, forming a hardened, protective layer.

2. Verb (Transitive):

   • To convert into keratin: The action of causing a substance or tissue to be transformed into or become impregnated with keratin.

Usage Examples

• Intransitive Verb:

  • The cells in the outer layer of the skin keratinise to form a protective barrier.
  • As the hair grows, the cells in the follicle keratinise, creating the hair shaft.

• Transitive Verb:

  • The treatment is designed to keratinise the damaged cuticle, making the hair smoother.
  • Certain diseases can cause the body to keratinise tissues abnormally.

Advanced Usage

• In a Biological/Medical Context: The term is often used in dermatology, histology, and pathology to describe normal processes (like skin formation) or disorders (like hyperkeratosis).
  • The biopsy showed that the epithelium had begun to keratinise excessively.

Variants and Related Words

• Keratinization (noun): The process or result of keratinising.
  • Keratinization is essential for the formation of nails.
• Keratinised (adjective): Describing something that has undergone keratinisation.
  • The keratinised layer of the epidermis is constantly shed.
• Keratin (noun): The tough, insoluble protein that is the key structural material in hair, nails, feathers, hooves, and the outer layer of skin.
• De-keratinise (verb): To remove or reverse the process of keratinisation (less common).

Synonyms

• Cornify: A synonym, especially in medical contexts, meaning to convert into horny tissue or keratin.
• Harden (in a biological sense): To become hard, though this is a more general term.

Notes on Meaning

• The primary meanings are strictly biological. The word is not used in figurative or casual contexts.
• The intransitive sense ("become horny") refers to a natural physiological process, not a state of sexual arousal, which is a completely different meaning of the word "horny."

Học thuật

Verb

1. become horny and impregnated with keratin
2. convert into keratin

Từ đồng nghĩa

• keratinize