Lexic.us

Definition of Hirudo medicinalis

1. Noun. Large European freshwater leech formerly used for bloodletting.

Medical Definition of Hirudo medicinalis

1. The medicinal leech. The CNS of this annelid contains a relatively small number of large, identifiable cells. This has made the leech, like the molluscs Aplysia and Helisoma, a chosen preparation for studying nervous system mechanisms at the cellular level. Related species of leeches are the organism of choice for cellular and molecular genetic studies of early development, since the early embryos also contain identifiable cells. This entry appears with permission from the Dictionary of Cell and Molecular Biology (11 Mar 2008)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Hirudo Medicinalis

Literary usage of Hirudo medicinalis

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Animal Parasites of Man: A Handbook for Students and Medical Men by Maximilian Gustav Christian Carl Braun, Pauline Falcke, Louis Westenra Sambon, Frederick Vincent Theobald (1908)
"Hirudo medicinalis, L., 1758. It occurs in numerous colour varieties, ... Hirudo medicinalis. (a) Anterior end,, with open buccal cavity, with the jaws (/. ..."

2. Textbook of Elementary Biology by Henry Johnstone Campbell (1893)
"(Hirudo medicinalis). THE Leech belongs to the large group of animals included under the name Worms. Worms may be said to begin the series of coelomate ..."

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