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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Vesicle

Vesicle \Ves"i*cle\, n. [L. vesicula, dim. of vesica a bladder, blister; akin to Skr. vasti bladder: cf. F. v['e]sicule.] A bladderlike vessel; a membranous cavity; a cyst; a cell. Specifically:

  1. (Bot.) A small bladderlike body in the substance of vegetable, or upon the surface of a leaf.

  2. (Med.) A small, and more or less circular, elevation of the cuticle, containing a clear watery fluid.

  3. (Anat.) A cavity or sac, especially one filled with fluid; as, the umbilical vesicle.

  4. (Zo["o]l.) A small convex hollow prominence on the surface of a shell or a coral.

  5. (Geol.) A small cavity, nearly spherical in form, and usually of the size of a pea or smaller, such as are common in some volcanic rocks. They are produced by the liberation of watery vapor in the molten mass.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
vesicle

"small, bladder-like structure," early 15c., from Middle French vesicule, from Latin vesicula "little blister," diminutive of vesica "bladder, blister" (see ventral).

Wiktionary
vesicle

n. 1 (context cytology English) A membrane-bound compartment found in a cell. 2 A small bladder-like cell or cavity. 3 (context anatomy English) A small sac or cyst or vacuole, especially one containing fluid. A blister formed in or beneath the skin, containing serum. A bleb. 4 (context anatomy English) A pocket of embryonic tissue that is the beginning of an organ. 5 (context geology English) A small cavity formed in volcanic rock by entrapment of a gas bubble during solidification.

WordNet
vesicle

n. a small anatomically normal sac or bladderlike structure (especially one containing fluid) [syn: cyst]

Wikipedia
Vesicle (biology and chemistry)

In cell biology, a vesicle is a small structure within a cell, consisting of fluid enclosed by a lipid bilayer. Vesicles form naturally during the processes of secretion ( exocytosis), uptake ( phagocytosis and endocytosis) and transport of materials within the cytoplasm. Alternatively, they may be prepared artificially, in which case they are called liposomes. If there is only one phospholipid bilayer, they are called unilamellar liposome vesicles; otherwise they are called multilamellar. The membrane enclosing the vesicle is also a lamellar phase, similar to that of the plasma membrane, and vesicles can fuse with the plasma membrane to release their contents outside the cell. Vesicles can also fuse with other organelles within the cell.

Vesicles perform a variety of functions. Because it is separated from the cytosol, the inside of the vesicle can be made to be different from the cytosolic environment. For this reason, vesicles are a basic tool used by the cell for organizing cellular substances. Vesicles are involved in metabolism, transport, buoyancy control, and enzyme storage. They can also act as chemical reaction chambers.

The 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was shared by James Rothman, Randy Schekman, and Thomas Südhof for their roles (building upon earlier research, some of it by their mentors) on the makeup and function of cell vesicles, especially in yeasts and in humans, including information on each vesicle's parts and how they are assembled. When cell vesicles, which help maintain a balance or equilibrium inside and outside of the blood vessels and cells (between the intravascular and extravascular spaces and the intracellular and extracellular spaces, respectively), malfunction, potentially serious and often fatal conditions are the result. The dysfunction is thought to contribute to Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, some hard-to-treat cases of epilepsy, some cancers and immunological disorders, and certain neurovascular conditions. These are likely either caused, influenced, or made worse, by the disorders of the cell vesicles.

Vesicle

Vesicle may refer to:

In cellular biology or chemistry
  • Vesicle (biology and chemistry), a supramolecular assembly of lipid molecules, like a cell membrane
  • Synaptic vesicle
In human embryology
  • Auditory vesicle
  • Optic vesicles
In human anatomy and morphology
  • Seminal vesicle
  • Vesicle (dermatology), a liquid-filled cavity under the epidermis, commonly called a blister
In non-human morphology
  • Subsporangial vesicle
  • Juice vesicles, the pulp found in the endocarp of common citrus members
In geology
  • Vesicular texture, a small enclosed cavity found in some volcanic rock, such as basalt

Usage examples of "vesicle".

In particular, those vesicles that have developed the ability to synthesize simple proteins that stabilize their delicate lipid bilayer membranes will be more likely to survive than those that have not.

He advises rubbing the tumour with these vesicles bruised in the hand, and afterwards washing the part with sea water.

The irritation extends into the ejaculatory ducts, thence backward into the seminal vesicles, and downward through the vasa deferentia to the testes.

So Nature shapes her hyaline vesicles and modifies them to serve the needs of the part where they are found.

The vesicles of miliaria are generally solitary, and appear on those portions of the body most liable to become heated and to perspire.

By its characteristic bladders, or vesicles studded about the blades of the branched narrowish fronds, this Sea Weed may be easily known.

Evie asked Tig Vesicle did he have a twink called Ed Chianese in one of the tanks.

This disease may be distinguished from variola and varioloid by the shortness of the period of invasion, the mildness of the symptoms, and the absence of the deep, funnel-shaped depression of the vesicles, so noticeable in variola.

The first is a series of autocatalytic chemical reactions concentrated within tiny vesicles whose skins are self-organizing lipid bilayers.

Higher life now emerged in the form of coelelminthes which perfused from the vesicles of the homunculolilium, or man-lily.

There are increases in the numbers of synapses in the LPO, in the numbers of vesicles per synapse, and even in the length of the postsynaptic thickenings in left IMHV and LPO.

The special arrangements of the vessels and the ducts of all the glands, of the air-tubes and vesicles of the lungs, of the parts which make up the skin and other membranes, all the details of those complex parenchymatous organs which had confounded investigation so long, have been lifted out of the invisible into the sight of all observers.

So Nature shapes her hyaline vesicles and modifies them to serve the needs of the part where they are found.

This thickening is the area of the postsynaptic membrane which contains the receptor molecules and which traps the transmitter released from the many small vesicles visible packed into the presynaptic terminal.

There were more vesicles there, flatter and more diffuse, but telling the same dread story.