MICROANATOMY

Detailed explanation-1: -Listen to pronunciation. (FA-goh-sy-TOH-sis) The process by which a phagocyte (a type of white blood cell) surrounds and destroys foreign substances (such as bacteria) and removes dead cells.

Detailed explanation-2: -The word phagocytosis comes from the Greek phago-, meaning “devouring”, and-cyte, meaning “cell”. Cells in the immune systems of organisms use phagocytosis to devour bodily intruders such as bacteria, and they also engulf and get rid of cell debris.

Detailed explanation-3: -Phagocytosis is also called cell eating. It refers to intake of solid food particles by an animal cell. It is not shown by cells which are surrounded by a cell wall like a plant cell or a prokaryotic cell. Phagocytosis is a type of endocytosis.

Detailed explanation-4: -In the 1880s Russian-born zoologist and microbiologist Élie Metchnikoff introduced the term phagocyte in reference to immune cells that engulf and destroy foreign bodies such as bacteria.