Lysosome is membrane bound vesicles. It is found in large quantities in each cell. It contains powerful hydrolytic enzymes which are capable of digesting all organic matter. These help in intracellular digestion, hence they are also called digestive sacs.

The functions of Lysosome

• Lysosome destroys bacteria or other foreign substances inside the cell.
• It digests and removes the old and unhealthy cell organelles so that the new cell organelles can get space.
• If there is a need to destroy completely damaged or dead cells, it breaks its membrane and releases all its material at once. In this process it is also destroyed. That is why it is also called suicide bag.

Lysosome was discovered by Belgian scientist Christian de Duve in 1955 and defined peroxisomes in 1965.