verb
- to lose specialized characteristics and revert to a more primitive or generalized state
Usage: biology; medicine
Examples
- Cancer cells often dedifferentiate, losing their specialized functions.
- The injured tissue began to dedifferentiate during the healing process.
- Stem cell research studies how cells can dedifferentiate under certain conditions.
- The tumor cells had dedifferentiated to a more primitive form.
- Scientists observed the cells dedifferentiate when exposed to specific chemicals.
- Plant cells can dedifferentiate and then redifferentiate into new cell types.