islets of Langerhans

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English[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:
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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)

  1. (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]