Syncytium vs. Coenocyte

Syncytiumnoun

(biology) A mass of cytoplasm containing many nuclei

Syncytiumnoun

Tissue in which the cell or partition walls are wholly wanting and the cell bodies fused together, so that the tissue consists of a continuous mass of protoplasm in which nuclei are imbedded, as in ordinary striped muscle.

Syncytiumnoun

The ectoderm of a sponge.

Syncytiumnoun

a mass of cytoplasm containing several nuclei and enclosed in a membrane but no internal cell boundaries (as in muscle fibers)

Syncytium

A syncytium or symplasm (; plural syncytia; from Greek: σύν syn and κύτος kytos ) is a multinucleate cell which can result from multiple cell fusions of uninuclear cells (i.e., cells with a single nucleus), in contrast to a coenocyte, which can result from multiple nuclear divisions without accompanying cytokinesis.

Coenocytenoun

A cell with multiple nuclei, found in fungi, algae, protists and slime molds.

Coenocyte

A coenocyte (English: ) is a multinucleate cell which can result from multiple nuclear divisions without their accompanying cytokinesis, in contrast to a syncytium, which results from cellular aggregation followed by dissolution of the cell membranes inside the mass. The word syncytium in animal embryology is used to refer to the coenocytic blastoderm of invertebrates.