Autoblasts
Historical document, translated for reference. It reflects medical knowledge of the 1920s–30s and is not medical advice.
Summary
Autoblasts are elementary life units, proposed by Altmann as self-sustaining organisms such as bacteria. His theory describes the cell as a complex structure where protoplasm and nucleus are composed of bioblasts connected by a binding substance. Munden, a follower of Altmann, later identified these as chthonoblasts.
Encyclopedia entry (1928–1936)
AUTOBLASTS (from Greek autos-self and blastos-sprout), the name given by Altmann to elementary life units, insofar as they exist in a free state as independent organisms; such, in his opinion, are bacteria. According to Altmann's teaching, the cell-formation is complex; its protoplasm and nucleus are composed of grains or bioblasts connected into a whole by a binding substance; as has been proved, these cellular components are incapable of existing outside the cell; there was a time when it was thought that they represented autoblasts, which, uniting in colonies and forming zoogloea, gave rise to the cell. According to the experiments of Munden, a follower of Altmann, some cells can still decompose into autoblasts, which he calls chthonoblasts.
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Cite this page
“Autoblasts.” Soviet Medical Encyclopedia. English translation of Bolshaya Meditsinskaya Entsiklopediya, 1st ed. (Moscow, 1928–1936), ed. N. A. Semashko. https://sovietmedicalencyclopedia.pages.dev/article/autoblasts/