pher-, phero-

(Greek: bear or carry; support; go)

This unit is directly related to the apheresis word family.

alarm pheromone (s) (noun), alarm pheromones (pl)
A pheromone that elicits an alarm reaction in an animal-species population, causing an excited behavioral state.
hemapheresis (s) (noun), hemaphereses (pl)
A procedure in which blood is drawn from a donor and separated into its components, some of which are retained, such as plasma or platelets, and the remainder returned by transfusion to the donor.
pheresis (s) (noun), phereses (pl)
A procedure in which the blood is filtered, separated, and a portion retained, with the remainder being returned to the individual patient.

There are various types of pheresis.

  • In leukapheresis, the leukocytes (white blood cells) are removed.
  • In plateletpheresis, the thrombocytes (blood platelets) are removed.
  • In plasmapheresis, the liquid part of the blood (the plasma) is removed.
pheromonal (adjective), more pheromonal, most pheromonal
pheromone (s) (noun), pheromones (pl)
A body secretion that regulates the behavior of other individuals in an animal population, serving such functions as sex attraction, trail marker, or warning signal.

Entomologists know that moths use pheromones to locate their mates. Yet when these chemical odors are widely dispersed in a windy, turbulent atmosphere, the insects still manage to fly in the right direction over hundreds of meters, or feet, with only random puffs of their mates' pheromones spaced tens of seconds apart to guide them.

pheromone plume (s) (noun), pheromone plumes (pl)
A chemical or an odor that an animal produces which changes the behavior of another animal of the same species including insects: Male moths locate females by navigating along their plumes pf pheromones or clouds of vapors resembling feathers as they spread from their points of origin, often flying hundreds of feet before they can succeed.

Males must find the outer envelope of the plumes of pheromones and then head upwind.to find the females.

photopheresis (s) (noun) (no plural)
A process in which peripheral blood is exposed in an extracorporeal flow system to photoactivated 8-methoxypsoralen (methoxsalen) and ultraviolet light; a procedure known as puva therapy.

Photopheresis is at present a standard therapy for advanced cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. It shows promise in the treatment of autoimmune diseases.

plateletpheresis (s) (noun) (no plural)
The preparation of platelet concentrates with the return of red cells and platelet-poor plasma to the donor.
releaser pheromone (s) (noun), releaser pheromones (pl)
A pheromone that produces a behavioral reaction by an organism.