PHAGOCYTE

Phagocyte

Phagocytes are the cells that protect the body by ingesting harmful foreign particles, bacteria, and dead or dying cells. Their name comes from the Greek phagein, "to eat" or "devour", and "-cyte", the suffix in biology denoting "cell", from the Greek kutos, "hollow vessel". They are essential for fighting infections and for subsequent immunity. Phagocytes are important throughout the animal kingdom and are highly developed within vertebrates. One litre of human blood contains about six billion white blood cells . Phagocytes were first discovered in 1882 by Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov while he was ...

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phagocyte

Noun

  1. A cell of the immune system, such as a neutrophil, macrophage or dendritic cell, that engulfs and destroys viruses, bacteria and waste materials, or in the case of mature dendritic cells; displays antigens from invading pathogens to cells of the lymphoid lineage.

Verb

  1. phagocytose


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: phagocyte
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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