Formless or unorganized cell material or protoplasm from which cells are thought to develop or originate.
From Greek 'kytos' (cell) + 'blastos' (bud/sprout) + '-ema' (result of action). This 19th-century term reflects the theory of free cell formation from undifferentiated material.
Early scientists literally believed cells could spontaneously form from a 'cytoblastema soup'—a kind of primordial cellular goo—before we understood that cells only come from pre-existing cells!
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