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ultrastructure

ultrastructure

9.0
Very small parts of cells, tissues, or materials seen only with a very powerful microscope
  • noun
  • /ˌʌltrəˈstrʌk.tʃər/
  • Specialized
translation icon : ultrastructura
  • Researchers examined the ultrastructure of the tissue samples to identify cellular changes.
  • sperm ultrastructure

Examples

  • The ultrastructure of the cell membrane is best observed using an electron microscope.

  • The ultrastructure of spermatozoa was analyzed under the same experimental conditions.

    Academic text (2018)
  • The results were presented as a percentage of alterations in sperm ultrastructure.

    Academic text (2018)
  • This is the first report about the deleterious effect of peroxynitrite or nitrosative stress on sperm ultrastructure.

    Academic text (2018)
  • We have no morphological or immunohistochemistry data to link HF-induced changes of the proteome to kidney ultrastructure.

    Academic text (2018)
  • They are keenly interested in the macrocosm of the universe and the microcosm of the cell's ultrastructure, but they know that Chemistry, Biology, and Physics can't tell them much about the nature of love.

    Academic text (1992)
  • Finally, when the ultrastructure in spermatozoa exposed to peroxynitrite was analyzed, an impairment of ultramorphological characteristics was clearly appreciated, especially after prolonged incubation.

    Academic text (2018)
  • The analysis of sperm ultrastructure was performed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) using a Zeiss EM 900 transmission electron microscope (Zeiss, Oberkochen, Germany).

    Academic text (2018)
  • By studying the ultrastructure of the material, scientists were able to uncover new insights about its properties.

Synonyms

microstructure
vsultrastructure
  • Specialized
2 6.9

Small parts inside a material and how they are arranged, often seen only with a microscope

requires electron or other high-resolution imaging to reveal much finer internal detail

How Microscopic

ultrastructure
  • Specialized
9.0
cytology
  • Specialized
1 8.1
histopathology
  • Specialized
1 9.3
histology
  • Specialized
3 8.8
anatomy
  • Specialized
96 3.8

Surface Forms

Morphology

ultrastructure = structure (semi-transparent) = ultra + structure

The word is clearly built from 'ultra-' and 'structure', but the scientific meaning 'extremely fine microscopic structure' is not fully predictable from the prefix alone.

Etymology

Ultrastructure begins with ultra-, which means 'beyond' (as in ultraviolet), and the second part structure means 'arrangement'. So, ultrastructure is the 'arrangement' of very small parts you can only see with very powerful microscopes.