contractility

[ kon-trak-til-i-tee ]

noun

1. the property, as of muscle or other tissue, of being able to contract, or draw itself together, reducing its dimensions:

   Improvements in the contractility of the heart can be measured by a number of different methods to determine how much blood the heart pumps with each beat.

Word History and Origins

Origin of contractility¹

First recorded in 1710–20; contractil(e) ( def ) + -ity ( def )

Example Sentences

"The noninvasive cells still have a high cortical contractility, keeping them together, while the moderately invasive cells have a nearly disappearing cortical contractility," said Blauth.

From Science Daily

The scientists also tested the effects of inhibiting contractility and cell adhesion and analysed the mechanical signature of embryonic cells with defective contractility.

From Science Daily

From the American Journal of Therapeutics: It “exerts no effect on the coronary flow, contractility, blood pressure, or heart rate. It has no significant negative inotropic or vasodilatory properties at rest or during exercise.”

From Washington Post

Indeed, the authors’ computational model predicted that the TEHVs would work best when cell contractility was low, which may not always be the case in humans.

From Nature

After collar placement, a tiny biopsy of hindlimb muscle was taken from the animals for subsequent state-of-the-art laboratory testing of single-muscle-fibre contractility.

From Nature