endotome

Noun

endotome (plural endotomes)

1. The somite cells that eventually give rise to the endothelium.
   • The tegmens are indeed similar and the composition of the cups are about the same but the organisation of the arms of Thamnocrinus with pronounced endotome branching and completely fixed main arm trunk must have differed considerably from Stamnocrinus devonicus.1962, Albert Breimer, Collected papers - Volume 1, page 64
   • Recently, lineage tracing somite cells using the Kaede protein and Cre/loxP technology revealed that a subset of somite cells termed endotome give rise to angioblasts that colonize the DA (Nguyen et al. 2014).2021, Jaap Diederik Van Buul, Stephan Huveneers, Mariona Graupera, Endothelial Dynamics in Health and Disease, page 75
2. A medical instrument consisting of scissors with curved blades and long crossing handles, originally used for decapitating a fetus.
   • Having perforated, he then passes into the cranium an endotome, which consists of scissors having short curved, very strong blades, worked by long, powerful crossing handles, resembling Nägele's perforator;1864, British and Foreign Medico-chirurgical Review - Volume 34, page 553
   • MATTEI'S ENDOTOME is a powerful instrument working on a scissors-joint; the shanks are double curved, so that by approximating the handles the curved blades can be brought together1867, Catalogue and Report of Obstetrical and Other Instruments, page 48
3. A retractable blade that allows great control over the depth of an incision, used for myotomy and arthrotomy.
   • The endotome is introduced through the left upper quadrant port; the blade advanced out of its sheath in its entirety.1993, John N. Graber, Leonard S. Schultz, Joseph J. Pietrafitta, Laparoscopic Abdominal Surgery
   • 2.0–3.0 mm retractable myotomy knife (arthrotomy knife or sheathed knife: endotome).2005, Azad Najmaldin, Steven Rothenberg, David Crabbe, Operative Endoscopy and Endoscopic Surgery in Infants and Children, page 231