See Also: Herbal medicine (botanical medicine, herbology, phytomedicine)(health)
ovum(medicine)
ovum(dictionary)
ovum(dictionary)
Ovum(health)
centrolecithal ovum(medicine)
Blighted ovum(health)
ovum transport(medicine)
migration of ovum(medicine)
isolecithal ovum(medicine)

ovum (medicine)


ovum


1. The female reproductive cell which, after fertilization, develops into a new member of the same species (von Baer, 1827), an egg.

2. The human ovum: a round cell about 0.1 mm. In diameter, produced in the ovary, where there is deposited around it a noncellular covering (oolemma, zona pellucida, zona radiata). It consists of protoplasm which contains some yolk, enclosed by a thin cell wall (vitelline membrane). There is a large nucleus (germinal vesicle), within which is a nucleolus (germinal spot). By extension, the word is also used to designate any early stage of the conceptus, when the embryo itself constitutes a tiny and insignificant part of the whole.