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Nov 30, 2009
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phag•o•cy•to•sis



Pronunciation: (fag"u-sī-tō'sis), [key]
—n.
Physiol.the ingestion of a smaller cell or cell fragment, a microorganism, or foreign particles by means of the local infolding of a cell's membrane and the protrusion of its cytoplasm around the fold until the material has been surrounded and engulfed by closure of the membrane and formation of a vacuole: characteristic of amebas and some types of white blood cells. Cf. endocytosis, exocytosis, pinocytosis.

Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.

phagocytosephagosome
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