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

anatomist Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal 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 scien ...

from

Wittenberg Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is the fourth-largest town in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, in the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. It is situated on the River Elbe, north of Leipzig and south-west of the reunified German ...

. He received his doctorate in

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

from the

University of Wittenberg Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public research university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. MLU offers German and i ...

in 1706, and his medical degree from the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), 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 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

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

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

he met with Frederik Ruysch (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 is the attempted remediation of a health problem, usually following a medical diagnosis. Both words, ''treatment'' and ''therapy'', are often abbreviated tx, Tx, or Tx. As a rule, each therapy has indications a ...

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 physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

pharmacology Pharmacology is the science of drugs and medications, including a substance's origin, composition, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, therapeutic use, and toxicology. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur betwee ...

and

gynaecology Gynaecology or gynecology (see American and British English spelling differences) is the area of medicine concerned with conditions affecting the female reproductive system. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, which focuses on pre ...

. 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 pancre ...

and the

common bile duct The common bile duct (also bile duct) is a part of the biliary tract. It is formed by the union of the common hepatic duct and cystic duct. It ends by uniting with the pancreatic duct to form the ampulla of Vater (hepatopancreatic ampulla). ...

, and is now referred to as the

ampulla of Vater The ampulla of Vater, hepatopancreatic ampulla or hepatopancreatic duct is the common duct that is usually formed by a union of the common bile duct and the pancreatic duct within the wall of the duodenum. This common duct usually features a di ...

. 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 (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 located on sensory neurons that convert mechanical pressure into action potential, electrical signals tha ...

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

Pacinian corpuscles The Pacinian corpuscle (also lamellar corpuscle, or Vater–Pacini corpuscle) is a low-threshold mechanoreceptor responsive to vibration or pressure, found in the skin and other internal organs. In the skin it is one of the four main types of cuta ...

. 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, 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 corpuscles. 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 vertebrates, including mammals, reptiles, and birds. In mammals, it may be the principal site for iron absorption. The duodenum precedes the jejunum and ileum and is the shortest p ...

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 () is the German-language edition of Wikipedia, a free and publicly editable online encyclopedia. Founded on 16 March 2001, it is the second-oldest Wikipedia edition (after the English Wikipedia). It has articles, ma ...

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

Writings

See also

References