noun
- A hormone-like substance produced by tissues that inhibits or regulates the growth and function of those same tissues.
Usage: technical; biology; rare in modern usage; largely superseded by more specific endocrinological terminology
Examples
- Early endocrinologists theorized that chalones were responsible for maintaining tissue homeostasis.
- The chalone concept was influential in early 20th-century biology before modern hormone research.
- Researchers investigated whether chalones could explain the self-limiting growth of certain tissues.