ground substance
Americannoun
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Also called matrix. the homogeneous substance in which the fibers and cells of connective tissue are embedded.
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Also called hyaloplasm. the clear portion of the cell cytoplasm; cytosol.
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The intercellular material in which the cells and fibers of connective tissue are embedded, composed largely of glycosaminoglycans, metabolites, water, and ions.
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The clear, fluid portion of cytoplasm as distinguished from the organelles and other cell components.
Etymology
Origin of ground substance
First recorded in 1880–85
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Both tissues have a variety of cell types and protein fibers suspended in a viscous ground substance.
From Textbooks • Jun. 19, 2013
Connective tissues come in a vast variety of forms, yet they typically have in common three characteristic components: cells, large amounts of amorphous ground substance, and protein fibers.
From Textbooks • Jun. 19, 2013
This ground substance is usually a fluid, but it can also be mineralized and solid, as in bones.
From Textbooks • Jun. 19, 2013
The enzyme injected into the disc breaks down the ground substance, enabling it and the water to escape and be absorbed by the body.
From Time Magazine Archive
In the 'survival' preparation he found, in addition to the nucleus, two clearly distinct substances: a hyaline ground substance in preponderating amount, and a more scanty, finely granular, fibrillary substance embedded in it.
From Histology of the Blood Normal and Pathological by Myers, W.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
