Biology Forum › Cell Biology › DIFFERENTIATION
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- May 8, 2009 at 6:10 am #11359epicionadoParticipant
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
- May 8, 2009 at 1:44 pm #90689MrMisteryParticipant
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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