Biology Forum Cell Biology DIFFERENTIATION

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    • #11359
      epicionado
      Participant

      Hi,
      I am looking for some basic information about differentiation in general.

      Do cells actively divide during the differentiation process? I mean, when a progenitor cell is activated (by antigen or some other stimuli), do they keep dividing during the various stages of differentiation?
      I would appreciate help on this. If you know of any good review, I would love to check it out.

      Thanks

    • #90689
      MrMistery
      Participant

      Generally no, but it might depend on a cell. If a B cell is triggered into differentiating (the process of maturation) then it can later become a plasma cell, whose sole purpose in life is to divide and make antibodies. But the division is not part of the maturation – the cell is already mature when it divides.

      However, as a rule of thumb, differentiation is the structural specialization of the cell to better fulfill a function or another. I don’t think this definition can include any type of cell division.

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