Feb 18, 2008

Human anatomical parts named after Austrians

There is a list of human anatomical parts named after people at Wikipedia. I think there are five Austrians among them. (As mentioned in a previous article, "Austrian" in this definition means: born at a place, which was part of Austria then, but could be part of another country today).
It ain’t the big and famous parts of the human body which are named after Austrians. For any reasons, everything has to do with digestion...

There are "pockets" in your gallbladder, the so called Rokitansky-Aschoff crypts, named after Karel Rokitansky, born 1804 in Koeniggraetz (part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire then, today: Hradec Králové, Czech Republic).

Václav Treitz, born 1819 in Hostomitz (Austria-Hungary, today: Hostomice, Czech Republic), can claim at least two parts of the human body: The muscle that fixes the duodenum to the abdominal wall is named after him the ligament of Treitz and the fold of peritoneum between the caecum and the abdominal wall is Treitz's arch.

Carl Toldt, born 1840 in Bruneck (Austria-Hungary, today: Brunico, Italy): Toldt's fascia is also a part of the duodenum and has a similar role like the ligament of Treitz.

Anton Gilbert Victor von Ebner, Ritter von Rosenstein was born in Bregenz, Vorarlberg (1842) and is the internal Austrian record holder regarding the number of anatomical eponyms:
Ebner's glands are located on your tongue; Ebner’s Halbmonde (also known as Heidenhain's cells) are the cells at the base of the salivary glands; and Ebner's lines are incremental lines on your teeth that reflect variations in mineralization during the dentin formation and can therefore be used like the growth rings of trees.

Joseph Paneth, born 1857 in Vienna: Paneth cells are cells in your small intestine, sometimes also in your stomach and/or rectum.
His son, Friedrich-Adolf Paneth, gave name to a lunar crater and a rare mineral (Panethite), but that’s a completely different story…

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