liposome

English

Etymology

lipo- (“fat”) +‎ -some (“body”). From Ancient Greek λίπος (lípos, “fat”) and Ancient Greek σῶμα (sôma, “soma”)

Noun

liposome (plural liposomes)

1. (biochemistry) An aqueous compartment enclosed by a bimolecular membrane, typically of phospholipid; a lipid vesicle.
   • 1930 September, Ben Dawes, “The Absorption of Fats and Lipoids in the Plaice (P. platessa L.)”, in Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, volume 17, number 1, page 75:

     Albrecht applied the term "liposome" to small refractive droplets observed in freshly mounted sections of liver and other tissues.

Coordinate terms

• azotosome

Derived terms

• coliposome
• immunoliposome
• intraliposome
• liposomal
• liposomalization
• liposomic
• liposomize
• liposomized
• nanoliposome
• peptidoliposome
• phospholiposome
• proliposome
• proteoliposome

 

Translations

an aqueous compartment

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 脂質體／脂质体 (zh), 微脂粒 (wéizhǐlì)

• Japanese: リポソーム (riposōmu)

Anagrams

• semiloop