the.com/phagocyte
The cell that eats problems, literally, so your immune system doesn't have to argue with them.
means An immune cell that engulfs and digests bacteria, debris, and other unwanted particles in the body.
from Built from Greek 'phagein' (to eat) plus 'kytos' (vessel or cell, the same root that gives us 'cell' words generally). Coined in the late 1800s by biologist Élie Metchnikoff, who famously watched mobile cells in starfish larvae swarm and devour a splinter he'd inserted — the moment credited with founding the whole concept of cellular immunity.
- name origin
- greek for devouring cell
- technique
- engulfs invaders whole, no chewing
- discoverer
- metchnikoff won a nobel for watching this
- day job
- macrophages and neutrophils are the main eaters