What does vascularize mean?
To vascularize is to make something vascular, meaning to give it blood vessels or to cause vessels to form within it. The verb is especially common in medicine, surgery, and tissue engineering. A surgeon or researcher may vascularize a graft or engineered tissue to provide it with a blood supply that can deliver oxygen and nutrients and remove waste. In its less common intransitive use, vascularize means to become vascular, as when tissue develops a network of blood vessels after implantation. The word is technical rather than everyday, but it is precise: it describes not merely increased blood flow to an existing vessel network, but the development or provision of vessels themselves. Its unusual spelling and direct connection with the biological process of establishing circulation make it a useful term for discussions of healing, transplantation, and regenerative medicine.
To make something vascular, especially by causing blood vessels to form in or supply it.
"The procedure aims to vascularize the damaged tissue."
Usually transitive and used in medical, surgical, or biological contexts.
To become vascular, especially by developing blood vessels.
"The tissue vascularizes rapidly after implantation."
This intransitive sense is less common than the transitive one.
From the Latin vasculum, meaning a small vessel, vascularize names the biological process of giving tissue a blood-vessel supply.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does vascularize come from?
The word was formed in English from vascular plus the suffix -ize, meaning “to make” or “to turn into.” Vascular comes through Latin from vasculum, a diminutive of vas, meaning “vessel.” The same Latin stem underlies related terms such as vasculature and vasculitis.
Related word forms
How vascularize is actually used
This is a formal and chiefly medical or scientific verb. It is commonly used transitively, with a tissue, graft, organ, or other structure as its object; it can also be used intransitively, especially in biological descriptions.