Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Trophoblast
/ˈtrɒfə(ʊ)blast/noun
The outer cell layer of a blastocyst, which invades the uterine lining and goes on to form the placenta.
The Greek roots
τροφή
trophḗ
nourishment, food
βλαστός
blastós
sprout, germ
Literally: “nourishing sprout”
The story of the word
The Dutch embryologist Ambrosius Hubrecht named it in 1889 for exactly what it does: feed the embryo by burrowing into the mother's tissue. Trophoblast cells behave in ways that would be alarming anywhere else, breaking down maternal tissue and evading the immune system, and cancer biologists study them for precisely that reason. The τροφή half also underlies atrophy, wasting for want of nourishment.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
atrophyhypertrophydystrophyblastocysteutrophic
In a sentence
Trophoblast invasion remodels the uterine arteries in early pregnancy.
Poor trophoblast function is implicated in pre-eclampsia.