| NRBC | National Rare Blood Club; normal red blood cell; nucleated red blood cell |
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| NSC | neurosecretory cell; no significant change; nonservice connected; nonspecific suppressor cell; norma... |
| RC | an electronic circuit containing a resistor and capacitor in series; radiocarpal; reaction center; r... |
| RCA | red cell agglutination; relative chemotactic activity; renal cell carcinoma; right carotid artery; r... |
| RCF | red cell ferritin; red cell folate; relative centrifugal field/force; ristocetin cofactor |
| carotid body cell | <pathology> Cells derived from the neural crest, involved in sensing pH and oxygen tension of the blood. (18 Nov 1997) |
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| Martinotti's cell | A small multipolar nerve cell with short branching dendrites scattered through various layers of the cerebral cortex; its axon ascends toward the surface of the cortex. (05 Mar 2000) |
| germ cell | Cell specialised to produce haploid gametes. The germ cell line is often formed very early in embryonic development. (18 Nov 1997) |
| germ cell tumour | A type of brain tumour. (12 Dec 1998) |
| germinal cell | A cell from which other cell's proliferate. (05 Mar 2000) |
| parietal cell | One of the cell's of the gastric glands; it lies upon the basement membrane, covered by the chief cell's, and secretes hydrochloric acid that reaches the lumen of the gland through fine intracellular and intercellular canals (canaliculi). Synonym: acid cell, oxyntic cell. (05 Mar 2000) |
| carrier cell | <cell biology> A cell that is capable of phagocytosis. The main mammalian phagocytes are neutrophils and macrophages. Origin: L. Phagedaena, Gr Phago, To eat. (18 Nov 1997) |
| cartilage cell | <pathology> Differentiated cell responsible for secretion of extracellular matrix of cartilage. (15 Jan 1998) |
| mast cell | <cell biology, immunology> Resident cell of connective tissue that contains many granules rich in histamine and heparan sulphate. Release of histamine from mast cells is responsible for the immediate reddening of the skin in a weal and flare response. Very similar to basophils and possibly derived from the same stem cells. Two types of mast cells are now recognised, those from connective tissue and a distinct set of mucosal mast cells, the activities of the latter are T-cell dependent. (05 Jan 1998) |
| mast cell leukaemia | A form of granulocytic leukaemia in which there are unusually great numbers of basophilic granulocytes in the tissues and circulating blood; in some instances, the immature and mature basophilic forms may represent from 40 to 80% of the total numbers of white blood cells. Synonym: mast cell leukaemia. (05 Mar 2000) |
| ghost cell | <haematology> A red blood cell which has had all of its cytoplasmic contents removed by cell lysis so that only its outer cytoplasmic membrane remains. (17 Dec 1997) |
| ghost cell glaucoma | Glaucoma occurring after vitrectomy, arising from erythrocyte membranes blocking outflow channels of aqueous humor. (05 Mar 2000) |
| giant cell | <pathology> A cell of large size, often with many nuclei. They are multinucleated masses produced by the fusion of many cells. They are often associated with viral infections. In AIDS, they are induced when the envelope glycoprotein of HIV binds to the CD4 antigen of uninfected neighboring T4 cells. The resulting syncytium leads to cell death and thus may account for the cytopathic effect of the virus. (18 Jul 2002) |
| giant cell aortitis | <pathology> Giant cell arteritis involving the aorta. (05 Mar 2000) |
| giant cell arteritis | <pathology> An inflammatory condition of the temporal artery. It is a serious chronic vascular disease, characterised by inflammation of the walls of the blood vessels (vasculitis). The age of affected patients is usually over 50 years of age. It most often involves the carotid artery system, and can lead to blindness or stroke. It can be diagnosed by biopsy of an artery, but there is often a false negative result. Elevation of the erythrocyte sedimentation rate is typical. Treatment is with high dose steroids. Common symptoms include headaches and tenderness over the temple (temporal artery). Can be associated with polymyalgia rheumatica. See: polymyalgia rheumatica. Synonym: cranial arteritis, temporal arteritis (20 Jun 2000) |