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Syncytic Cells

A syncytic region is a multinucleate portion of an organism or colony of organisms that is surrounded by a single common cytoplasm. These syncytic areas may be normal or they may be a symptom or cause of disease.

Syncytic regions are formed during cell division. The main body of the cell divides in a step after the nucleus of the cell divides into two. If for any reason, whether natural or unnatural, this last division is halted, the cell remains intact, but with two nuclei.

In the hexactinellids, or glass sponges, this is a normal finding; much of their tissue is by nature syncitia; areas of syncytic protoplasm. You will also find syncytic regions in many slime molds and certain fungi, and even in certain plants and the embryos of certain insects. However, a syncytic cell region in most higher animals, including humans, is highly suggestive of carcinogenesis (the process by which normal cells become cancer cells.

Web Resources On Syncytic Cells

Hexactinellida
PDF: L1 retrotransposons in human cancers

Book Resources On Syncytic Cells

The cell cycle in multinucleate coccoid green algae: Ultrastructure & systematics by Frans Kouwets
Cell Growth and Oncogenesis by Peter Bannasch

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