Health Dictionary
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Langhans giant cell
Introduction
Overview
Overview
Langhans giant cells are large cells found in granulomatous conditions. They are formed by the fusion of epithelioid cells (macrophages), and contain nuclei arranged in a horseshoe-shaped pattern in the cell periphery. Their presence could indicate tuberculosis.
They should not be confused with Langerhans cell. According to MeSH, Langhans giant cells are macrophages, but Langerhans cells are not. “Langerhans” may also refer to the Islets of Langerhans that are found in the pancreas.
Langhans giant cells are named for Theodor Langhans (1839-1915), a German pathologist [1]
References
References
- ↑ J Pritchard, P Foley, H Wong. Langerhans and Langhans: what’s misleading in a name? The Lancet (2003): 362 (9387), 922.
- http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodor_Langhans (link to German Wikipedia)
External links
External links
- Langhans+giant+cells at the US National Library of Medicine Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
- Histology at ohio-state.edu
- Histology at jhu.edu
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]