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Webster 1913 Edition
Pronephron
‖
, Pro-neph′ros
, ‖Pro-neph′ron
Noun.
[ NL., fr. Gr. [GREEK] before + [GREEK] a kidney.]
(Anat.)
The head kidney. See under
Head
. Definition 2024
pronephron
pronephron
English
Noun
pronephron (plural pronephrons)
- (biology) The first part of the urogenital system to be differentiated in a vertebrate embryo, which functions as a simple excretory organ in simpler forms, serves as a provisional kidney in some fish and amphibians, and only appears as a temporary embryonic structure in reptiles, birds, and mammals.
- 1975, Acta Embryologiae Experimentalis, page 110:
- In addition, while in the pronephron only vacuolization was noted, the structure of the liver had an atypical appearance and there was a considerable number of erythrocytes scattered among the hepatic chords which themselves were noticeably altered.
- 1982, T. Lenoir, The Strategy of Life, ISBN 9027713634, page 106:
- The whole problem turned around a detailed understanding of the so-called Wolffian body, what modern textbooks in embryology designate as the pronephron and its associated Wolffian or pronephric ducts.
- 1985, Martha Ann Auvenshine & Martha Gunther Enriquez, Maternity nursing: dimensions of change, page 135:
- Regression of the first clusters occurs before the total number of pronephron structures is established. The pronephrons induce the development of the mesonephrons. As the pronephrons regress, the mesonephrons appear.
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