Degeneration is deterioration in the
medical
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practic ...
sense
A sense is a biological system used by an organism for sensation, the process of gathering information about the world through the detection of Stimulus (physiology), stimuli. (For example, in the human body, the brain which is part of the cen ...
. Generally, it is the change from a higher to a lower form. More specifically, it is the change of
tissue to a lower or less functionally active form.
*True degeneration: when there is actual
chemical
A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., wi ...
change of the tissue itself.
*
Infiltration
Infiltration may refer to:
Science, medicine, and engineering
*Infiltration (hydrology), downward movement of water into soil
*Infiltration (HVAC), a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning term for air leakage into buildings
*Infiltration (me ...
: when the change consists of the
deposit of
abnormal matter
In classical physics and general chemistry, matter is any substance that has mass and takes up space by having volume. All everyday objects that can be touched are ultimately composed of atoms, which are made up of interacting subatomic partic ...
in the tissues
*
Degenerative disease
Degenerative disease is the result of a continuous process based on degenerative cell changes, affecting tissues or organs, which will increasingly deteriorate over time.
In neurodegenerative diseases, cells of the central nervous system stop wor ...
See also
*
macular degeneration
Macular degeneration, also known as age-related macular degeneration (AMD or ARMD), is a medical condition which may result in blurred or no vision in the center of the visual field. Early on there are often no symptoms. Over time, however, som ...
*
neurodegenerative disease
A neurodegenerative disease is caused by the progressive loss of structure or function of neurons, in the process known as neurodegeneration. Such neuronal damage may ultimately involve cell death. Neurodegenerative diseases include amyotrophic ...
References
Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary (Twenty-sixth Edition) ()
Medical terminology
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