Corpuscle
corpuscle (-pussl), n.(L. corpusculum, dim. of corpus.)
1. A minute particle; an atom; a
molecule.
2. (Anat.) A protoplasmic animal
cell; esp., such as float free, like blood, lymph, and pus
corpuscles; or such as are imbedded in an intercellular
matrix, like connective tissue and cartilage corpuscles.
See Blood.
Virchow showed that the corpuscles of bone
are homologous with those of connective tissue.
Quains Anat.
Red blood corpuscles (Physiol.),
in man, yellowish, biconcave, circular discs varying from
1/3500 to 1/3200 of an inch in
diameter and about 1/12400 of an inch thick. They
are composed of a colorless stroma filled in with semifluid
hamoglobin and other matters. In most mammals the red
corpuscles are circular, but in the camels, birds, reptiles, and
the lower vertebrates generally, they are oval, and sometimes
more or less spherical in form. In Amphioxus, and most
invertebrates, the blood corpuscles are all white or
colorless. -- White blood corpuscles
(Physiol.), rounded, slightly flattened, nucleated
cells, mainly protoplasmic in composition, and possessed of
contractile power. In man, the average size is about
1/2500 of an inch, and they are present in blood
in much smaller numbers than the red corpuscles.
corpuscle (?), n. (Physics)An electron.
|
