islets of Langerhans
English edit
Etymology edit
Translating French îlots de Langerhans; named after Paul Langerhans, the German anatomist who discovered these regions in the pancreas.
Noun edit
islets of Langerhans pl (normally plural, singular islet of Langerhans)
- (anatomy, biology) Distinctive regions of tissue in the pancreas, which contain its endocrine cells.
- 1997, Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind, Folio Society, published 2016, page 545:
- Edward Sharpey-Schäfer determined that the substance necessary for carbohydrate metabolism was produced in the Islets of Langerhans, naming this new substance ‘insuline’ after the Latin insula (island).
Translations edit
regions in the pancreas
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