ground substance

American  

noun

Biology.

1. Also called matrix.  the homogeneous substance in which the fibers and cells of connective tissue are embedded.

2. Also called hyaloplasm.  the clear portion of the cell cytoplasm; cytosol.

---

ground substance Scientific  

1. The intercellular material in which the cells and fibers of connective tissue are embedded, composed largely of glycosaminoglycans, metabolites, water, and ions.

2. 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

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

Polysaccharides and proteins secreted by fibroblasts combine with extra-cellular fluids to produce a viscous ground substance that, with embedded fibrous proteins, forms the extra-cellular matrix.

From Textbooks • Jun. 19, 2013

Both tissues have a variety of cell types and protein fibers suspended in a viscous ground substance.

From Textbooks • Jun. 19, 2013

Spinal discs, cushionlike pads that separate the vertebrae, are composed of tough, cartilaginous fibers and filled with water and a protein called "ground substance."

From Time Magazine Archive

The hyaline cellular ground substance, carrying the glycogen, could not under any circumstances be stained, but the cell-granules above mentioned stained easily with all kinds of dyes.

From Histology of the Blood Normal and Pathological by Myers, W.