A membrane-bound organelle containing digestive enzymes that break down waste materials, cellular debris, and foreign substances. Often called the cell's 'garbage disposal' or 'recycling center'.
From Greek 'lysis' meaning 'to loosen' or 'dissolve' and 'soma' meaning 'body'. Coined by Belgian biochemist Christian de Duve in 1955 when he discovered these enzyme-filled organelles that literally dissolve cellular components.
Lysosomes are like tiny Pac-Man characters inside your cells! They're so acidic (pH around 4.5) that if they leaked, they'd dissolve the cell from the inside out - which is exactly what happens during programmed cell death to clean up old cells.
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