Pathological breakdown of cells by the destruction of their outer membrane

Wiktionary Word definitions in Wiktionary
n. The pathological breakdown of a cell due to the bursting of the cell membrane caused by osmosis.

WordNet Word definitions in WordNet
n. pathological breakdown of cells by the destruction of their outer membrane

Wikipedia Word definitions in Wikipedia
Cytolysis , or osmotic lysis , occurs when a cell bursts due to an osmotic imbalance that has caused excess water to move into the cell. It occurs in a hypotonic environment, where water moves into the cell by osmosis and causes its volume to increase to ...