körpereigenen

Körpereigen is a German adjective used in biology, medicine and related sciences to indicate that something originates from within the body or is produced by the organism itself. In English, the equivalent term is endogenous. The inflected form körpereigenen appears in phrases such as körpereigene Substanzen, körpereigene Hormone or körpereigene Immunstoffe.

The term is commonly used to distinguish endogenous factors from exogenous or fremde substances that originate outside the body. It can describe substances (hormones, enzymes, neurotransmitters, cytokines), metabolic processes, or immune components that are produced by the organism. It is also used in pathology and immunology to refer to self-derived elements, such as körpereigene Antigene or autoantibodies, highlighting processes tied to the body’s own physiology rather than external agents.

In pharmacology and toxicology, körpereigen is used to discuss effects or pathways that arise from the body's own regulatory systems, metabolism, or immune responses, in contrast to effects triggered by administered drugs or environmental toxins.

Etymology and usage notes: the term derives from körpereigen (body's own) and takes attributive inflection when modifying nouns. While common in scientific writing, it is less frequent in everyday language, where speakers might instead say that something is produced by the body or “im Körper hergestellt.”

See also: Endogen, Exogen, körpereigene Substanzen, Autoimmunität.