Edit page | Page history | Printable version

Definition

noun

(1) A phenomenon or process of forming cytoplasmic extensions (resembling pseudopodia) through plasmolysis.

(2) Technical term for cytoplasmic fragmentation or the process of shedding or pinching off of small cytoplasmic buds.

Supplement

The projections or extensions of cytoplasm appear like pseudopodia but they are formed by plasmolysis rather than the processes involved in the formation of true pseudopodia.

Clasmatosis is involved in embryogenesis, viral infection, etc. For instance, cytopasmic fragmentation of macrophages at the tumor cell surface.

Word origin: Greek klasma, a fragment, _ -osis, condition.

See also: plasmolysis.