| Library / English Dictionary |
CONTRACTILE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Capable of contracting or being contracted
Example:
the contractile wings of an insect
Classified under:
Similar:
contracted (reduced in size or pulled together)
Derivation:
contractility (the capability or quality of shrinking or contracting, especially by muscle fibers and even some other forms of living matter)
Context examples:
Muscle tissue is composed of specialized contractile cells.
(Muscle Tissue, NCI Thesaurus)
Motor neurons which activate the contractile regions of intrafusal muscle fibers, thus adjusting the sensitivity of the muscle spindles to stretch.
(Gamma Motor Neuron, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)
Members of this family are transmembrane proteins and are able to interact with both oligosaccharides on the extracellular surface and the cytoplasmic contractile proteins spectrin and actin.
(Glycophorin, NCI Thesaurus)
This gene is involved in the contractile regulation of vasculature and smooth muscle cells.
(BDKRB2 Gene, NCI Thesaurus)
The alpha actins are found in muscle tissues and are a major constituent of the contractile apparatus.
(Actin, Gamma 2, NCI Thesaurus/LocusLink)
Ca2+ ions released via the CICR mechanism diffuse through the cytosolic space to contractile proteins to bind to troponinC resulting in the release of inhibition induced by troponinI.
(Cardiac Muscle Contraction Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/KEGG)
The subsequent activation of newly synthesized RhoA transforms these clusters into Focal Adhesion Complexes and the formation of contractile actin-myosin stress fibers.
(Calpain-1 Cell Spread Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)
Contractile system directs cell movement and is responsible for maintaining or changing cell shape.
(Contractile System, NCI Thesaurus)
As part of the contractile apparatus, the proteins actin and myosin form parallel myofilaments.
(Muscle Cell, NCI Thesaurus)
In nature, animals such as chameleons and cuttlefish are able to change colour thanks to chromatophores: skin cells with contractile fibres that move pigments around.
(Colour-changing artificial ‘chameleon skin’ powered by nanomachines, University of Cambridge)
