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Glite Dictionary
🔄 Affecting nearby cells 🧬 A signaling substance
paracrine

paracrine

1 8.8
A way a cell sends signals to nearby cells
  • adjective
  • /ˈpærəˌkraɪn/
  • Specialized
: paracrino
  • In paracrine signaling, one cell releases a substance that influences the behavior of nearby cells.

Examples

  • In one scenario, IL-4 is produced by T cells during activation and signals in an autocrine/paracrine fashion 24,25.

    Academic text (2016)

  • The paracrine signals from the immune cells help regulate the activity of neighboring cells during inflammation.

  • And para means near, paracrine means a signal from nearby.

  • Understanding how paracrine communication occurs is essential for studying tissue development.

Surface Forms

paracrine positive

Morphology

paracrine = para + crine

Although the word is formally built from para- plus a scientific combining form, the root is not a transparent standalone English word, so most learners will not be able to infer the meaning from the parts.

Etymology

Paracrine comes from Greek parts para- meaning 'beside' and -crine meaning 'to secrete', the same idea you see in secrete and endocrine. So paracrine as an adjective describes signals that act close to a cell, affecting nearby cells rather than traveling far.