enucleate

Enucleate is a verb with two principal senses in English. The primary biological sense is to remove the nucleus from a cell, yielding an enucleated cell or cytoplast. This term is used in basic and applied biology, including cloning and somatic cell nuclear transfer, where an oocyte’s nucleus is removed to receive a donor nucleus. Enucleation in this context is typically achieved by precise micromanipulation or chemical methods that extract the nucleus while preserving the cytoplasm and surrounding cellular machinery.

In medicine, enucleate is also used to describe the surgical removal of an entire eye, known as enucleation of the globe. This procedure is performed for indications such as intraocular malignancies (for example, certain cases of retinoblastoma), severe trauma, painful blind eye, or persistent endophthalmitis. Enucleation is distinct from evisceration, which removes intraocular contents while preserving the scleral shell, and from exenteration, which removes the eye plus surrounding orbital tissues. After enucleation, an orbital prosthesis is fitted to restore appearance, and implants may be placed to maintain socket volume and support prosthetic rehabilitation.

Etymology traces enucleate to the Latin enucleare, from e- “out” + nucleus “kernel” or “nucleus.” The term has been used in scientific and medical contexts since the early modern period to denote removal of a nucleus or removal of an entire globe, depending on the domain of discourse.