sometimes caryo-, combining form of Gr. κάρυον nut, kernel, employed in a number of biological terms referring to the nucleus of an animal or vegetable cell, esp. to changes that take place in its structure. The earliest of these were karyolysis, karyolytic (introduced by Auerbach in 1874) and karyokinesis (Schleicher). Those generally recognized are the following:
Karyokinesis [Gr. κίνησις motion], the complicated series of changes observed in indirect or ‘mitotic’ division of a cell-nucleus; hence Karyokinetic a., pertaining to karyokinesis. Karyolymph, the more fluid portion of a cell-nucleus. Karyolysis [Gr. λύσις], the dissolution of a cell-nucleus (Syd. Soc. Lex., 1887); hence Karyolytic a. Karyomitosis [Gr. μίτος a thread], separation of the nuclear fibers in the process of cell-division; hence Karyomitoic, -mitotic adjs. Karyoplasm [Gr. πλάσμα thing molded], the formed substance or protoplasm of the nucleus; nucleoplasm (Syd. Soc. Lex.). Karyorrhexis [Gr. ῥῆξις breaking], bursting of a cell-nucleus. Karyosome [Gr. σῶμα body], one of the segments into which the fibers of a nucleus break up during karyokinesis. Karyostenosis [Gr. στένωσις constriction], direct or ‘amitotic’ division of the nucleus, by simple elongation and constriction; hence Karyostenotic a.
1882. Vines, trans. Sachs’ Bot., 17. In the process of division into two the nucleus usually goes through a series of changes which are designated by the term *Karyokinesis.
1894. H. Drummond, Ascent Man, i. 80. The fertilised ovum has completed the complex preliminaries of Karyokinesis.
1885. Sedgwick, in Proc. R. Soc., XXXIX. 243. The *karyokinetic figures characteristic of the ectodermal nuclei.
1888. Rolleston & Jackson, Anim. Life, Introd. 23. The ovular nucleus … undergoes karyokinetic changes.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VI. 491. Fine fibrils … floating in the *karyolymph. Ibid., 168. The leucocytes, often at an early date, undergo fatty degeneration and necrosis, their nuclei disappearing both by *karyolysis and karyorrhexis.
1883. trans. Ziegler’s Path. Anat., I. § 75. Radiating lines of granules making up the so-called *karyolytic figure.
1885. Schäfer, in Proc. R. Soc., XXXVIII. 91. The cells of lymphoid tissue multiply abundantly by *karyomitosis. Ibid. Those peculiar changes in the nucleus which have been termed karyokinetic or *karyomitoic.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., II. 7. These cells … frequently show the phenomenon of karyo-mitosis, that is, a division of their nucleus with a star-shaped figure at each end. Ibid. (1899), VI. 491. The nucleus, or *karyoplasm, also shows a reticulum of exceedingly fine fibrils.
1890. Waldeyer, in Jrnl. Microsc. Soc., XXX. 168. Distinguished as … *‘karyosomes,’ bodies that are stained blue;… ‘plasmasomes,’ which stain red;… ‘hyalosomes,’ which are not stained.
