giant cell

giant cell
gi·ant cell 'jī-ənt- n an unusually large cell esp a large multinucleate often phagocytic cell (as those characteristic of tubercular lesions, various sarcomas, or the megakaryocytes of the red marrow)

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any large cell, such as a megakaryocyte. Giant cells may have one or many nuclei.

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1. any very large cell; some are normal, such as the megakaryocytes of bone marrow, and some are abnormal, such as tumor cells. 2. any of the very large, multinucleate, modified macrophages that may be formed by coalescence of epithelioid cells or by nuclear division without cytoplasmic division of monocytes, such as those characteristic of granulomatous inflammation (Langhans giant cells) and those that form around large foreign bodies (foreign body giant cells).

Medical dictionary. 2011.

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