Abraham Vater (9 December 1684 – 18 November 1751) was a German

anatomist Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having it ...

from

Wittenberg Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the River Elbe, north of ...

. He received his doctorate in

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...

from the

University of Wittenberg Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university i ...

in 1706, and his medical degree from the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December ...

in 1710. Afterwards, he embarked on a scientific trip through Germany, Holland and England. In

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

he met with

Frederik Ruysch Frederik Ruysch (; March 28, 1638 – February 22, 1731) was a Dutch botanist and anatomist. He is known for developing techniques for preserving anatomical specimens, which he used to create dioramas or scenes incorporating human parts. His ana ...

(1638-1731). He later gained his habilitation in Wittenberg, becoming an associate professor in 1719, a full professor of anatomy in 1732 and a professor of

therapy A therapy or medical treatment (often abbreviated tx, Tx, or Tx) is the attempted remediation of a health problem, usually following a medical diagnosis. As a rule, each therapy has indications and contraindications. There are many differe ...

in 1746. Vater is primarily known for his work in anatomy, but he also published works in the fields of

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the elements that make up matter to the compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions: their composition, structure, proper ...

botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

pharmacology Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemica ...

and

gynaecology Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined ar ...

. He was the first to describe the hepatopancreatic ampulla, which is the juncture of the

pancreatic duct The pancreatic duct, or duct of Wirsung (also, the major pancreatic duct due to the existence of an accessory pancreatic duct), is a duct joining the pancreas to the common bile duct. This supplies it with pancreatic juice from the exocrine pancr ...

and the

common bile duct The common bile duct, sometimes abbreviated as CBD, is a duct in the gastrointestinal tract of organisms that have a gallbladder. It is formed by the confluence of the common hepatic duct and cystic duct and terminates by uniting with pancrea ...

, and is now referred to as the

ampulla of Vater The ampulla of Vater, also known as the or the hepatopancreatic duct, is formed by the union of the pancreatic duct and the common bile duct. The ampulla is specifically located at the major duodenal papilla. The ampulla of Vater is an imp ...

. In 1719, Vater was the first to notice oval-shaped organs of concentric layers of connective tissue wrapped around nerve endings in the skin. They were between 1–4 mm long, and he called the structures ''papillae nervae''. Apparently his research was forgotten, because in 1831 they were rediscovered by anatomist

Filippo Pacini Filippo Pacini (25 May 1812 – 9 July 1883) was an Italian anatomist, posthumously famous for isolating the cholera bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae'' in 1854, well before Robert Koch's more widely accepted discoveries 30 years later. Pacini was born ...

(1812–1883) when performing a dissection of a hand. Pacini was the first to describe their functionality as

mechanoreceptor A mechanoreceptor, also called mechanoceptor, is a sensory receptor that responds to mechanical pressure or distortion. Mechanoreceptors are innervated by sensory neurons that convert mechanical pressure into electrical signals that, in animals, a ...

s that are sensitive to vibration and pressure changes, and thus the structures were to become known as

Pacinian corpuscles Pacinian corpuscle or lamellar corpuscle or Vater-Pacini corpuscle; is one of the four major types of mechanoreceptors (specialized nerve ending with adventitious tissue for mechanical sensation) found in mammalian skin. This type of mechanorece ...

. Today, the term "Vater-Pacini corpuscles" is sometimes used to credit the discoveries of both men. These organs are one of several types of mechanoreceptors in the body, some others being Meissner corpuscles (tactile and touch receptors),

Ruffini corpuscles The Bulbous corpuscle or Ruffini ending or Ruffini corpuscle is a slowly adapting mechanoreceptor located in the cutaneous tissue between the dermal papillae and the hypodermis. It is named after Angelo Ruffini Angelo Ruffini (Pretare of Arquata ...

(respond to skin stretch and torque), and

Krause corpuscle The bulboid corpuscles (end-bulbs of Krause) are cutaneous receptors in the human body. The end-bulbs of Krause were named after the German anatomist Wilhelm Krause (1833–1910). Function The end-bulbs of Krause were thought to be thermorecepto ...

s. His name is also associated with "Vaters fold", defined as a fold in the mucous membrane in the

duodenum The duodenum is the first section of the small intestine in most higher vertebrates, including mammals, reptiles, and birds. In fish, the divisions of the small intestine are not as clear, and the terms anterior intestine or proximal intestine m ...

located just above the hepatopancreatic ampulla.Vater's fold
@

Who Named It ''Whonamedit?'' is an online English-language dictionary of medical eponyms and the people associated with their identification. Though it is a dictionary, many eponyms and persons are presented in extensive articles with comprehensive bibliograp ...

Writings

*''Dissertatio anatomica quo novum bilis dicetilicum circa orifucum ductus choledochi ut et valvulosam colli vesicæ felleæ constructionem ad disceptandum proponit'', 1720 *''Das Blatter-Beltzen oder die Art und Weise, die Blattern durch künstliche Einpfropfung zu erwecken'', 1721 * ''Catalogus plantarum inprimis exoticarum horti academici Wittenbergensis'', 1721–1724 * ''Catalogus Variorum Exoticorum Rarissimorum Maximam Partem Incognitorum ... quae in museo suo, brevi luci exponendo possidet Abraham Vater'', 1726 *''Diss., qua valor et sufficienta signorum infantem recens natum aut motuum aut vivum editum arguentium examinatur'', 1735 *''De calculis in locis inusitatis natis et per vias insolitas exclusis'', 1741 *''De instrumentoro ad determinadas lucis refractiones'', 1751

References

* ''This article is based on a translation of the equivalent article from the

German Wikipedia The German Wikipedia (german: Deutschsprachige Wikipedia) is the German-language edition of Wikipedia, a free and publicly editable online encyclopedia. Founded on March 16, 2001, it is the second-oldest Wikipedia (after the English Wikipedi ...

.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Vater, Abraham 1684 births 1751 deaths 18th-century Latin-language writers 18th-century German male writers German anatomists People from the Electorate of Saxony People from Wittenberg Fellows of the Royal Society

Writings

See also

References