Medulla

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Medulla refers to the middle of something, and derives from the Latin word for 'marrow' (the Latin equivalent of the Greek stem myelo). In medicine it refers to either bone marrow, the spinal cord, or more generally, the middle part of a structure (as opposed to the cortex). Examples of its use include:

• the medulla oblongata, a part of the brain stem
• the renal medulla, a part of the kidney
• the adrenal medulla, a part of the adrenal gland
• medulla ossea, the marrow inside the bone
• medulla spinalis, another term for spinal cord
• Medulla of ovary

Non-medical uses of the term include:

• Medúlla, a 2004 music album by Icelandic singer Björk.
• Medulla, Florida, a U.S. city
• Las Médulas, Ancient Roman gold mines in León, Spain, UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• Medula the Deviant, Marvel Comics character
• Medulla Grammatice or Medulla Grammaticae, a fifteenth-century Latin-Middle English dictionary