Inclusion Bodies
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The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Inclusion Bodies
in biology, all the structures of the cell cytoplasm. Inclusion bodies are usually divided into three groups: fixed bodies, or organoids, which carry out the general cell functions—for example, mitochondria, Golgi bodies, chloroplasts; temporary bodies, or paraplasmatic formations, which appear and disappear during metabolism—secretor granules, nutritive substances, fat, starch, and others; and specialized, or metaplasmatic, formations, which are found in some specialized cells, where they perform particular functions, such as contraction—the myo-fibrils of muscle cells—or support—the tonofibrils in epidermal cells.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.