1. A knife used in sclerotomy. 2. The group of mesenchymal cells emerging from the ventromedial part of a somite and migrating toward the notochord. Sclerotomal cells from adjacent somites become merged in intersomitically located masses that are the primordia of the centra of the vertebrae. [sclero- + G. tome, a cutting]
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sclero·tome 'skler-ə-.tōm n the ventral and mesial portion of a somite that proliferates mesenchyme which migrates about the notochord to form the axial skeleton and ribs
sclero·tom·ic .skler-ə-'tō-mik, -'tä-mik adj
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n.
1. a surgical knife used in the operation of sclerotomy.
2. (in embryology) the part of the segmented mesoderm (see somite) in the early embryo that gives rise to all the skeletal tissue of the body. The vertebrae and ribs retain the segmented structure, which is lost in the skull and limbs.
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scle·ro·tome (sklērґo-tōm) [sclero- + -tome] 1. an instrument used in the incision of the sclera. 2. the area of a bone innervated from a single spinal segment. 3. one of the paired masses of mesenchymal tissue, separated from the ventromedial part of a somite, which develop into vertebrae and ribs.Medical dictionary. 2011.