Desmons

DESMONS (from Greek desmos-connection), or 'cytoplasmic growth factors (principles)' of tissues, a term proposed by Albert Fischer for the collective designation of all those substances (and forces) which, according to Fischer's hypothesis, circulate within the protoplasm of cells (in contrast to Carrel's 'trophons' and certain hormones present in the surrounding tissue fluid) and, passing from cell to cell through anastomoses, regulate the growth of tissues and their specialized functions. This hypothesis was proposed by Fischer to explain a number of facts, namely: 1) individual tissue cells, not in direct connection with a certain number of other cells, cannot multiply and give rise to tissue cultures, 2) only when tissues of two adjacent tissue cultures from the heart, having different contraction rhythms, are joined together is a single, common rhythm obtained, etc. According to Fischer's hypothesis, cells of malignant tumors lose to a certain degree the tissue specificity of D. (retaining only species specificity), in consequence of which they are able to grow at the expense of material from other tissues. It should be noted that the factual data presented by Fischer can also be given another explanation (cf., for example, the hypothesis of Burrows and others). For details, see Tissue Cultures.