Tubercle: (1) [TA], A nodule, especially in an anatomic, not pathologic, sense. (2) A circumscribed, rounded, solid elevation on the skin, mucous membrane, surface of an organ, or the surface of a bone, the latter giving attachment to a muscle or ligament. (3) dentistry a small elevation arising on the surface of a tooth. SYN: tuberculum [TA]. (4), A granulomatous lesion due to infection by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Although somewhat variable in size (0.5-3 mm in diameter) and in the proportions of various histologic components, tubercle's tend to be fairly well circumscribed, spheroid, firm lesions that usually consist of three irregularly outlined but moderately distinct zones: 1) an inner focus of necrosis, coagulative at first, which then becomes caseous; 2) a middle zone that consists of a fairly dense accumulation of large mononuclear phagocytes (macrophages), frequently arranged somewhat radially (with reference to the necrotic material) resembling an epithelium, and hence termed epithelioid cells; multinucleated giant cells of Langhans type may also be present; and 3) an outer zone of numerous lymphocytes, and a few monocytes and plasma cells. In instances in which healing has begun, a fourth zone of fibrous tissue may form at the periphery. Morphologically indistinguishable lesions may occur in diseases caused by other agents; many observers use the term nonspecifically, i.e., with reference to any such granuloma; other clinicians use tubercle only for tuberculous lesions, and then designate those of undetermined causes as epithelioid-cell granulomas. [L. tuberculum, dim. of tuber, a knob, a swelling, a tumor]
Source: Stedman's Medical Spellchecker, © 2006 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.
Tubercle: a swelling that is the characteristic lesion of tuberculosis.
Source: WordNet 2.1
Source - WordNet 2.1
The following list attempts to classify Tubercle into categories where each line is subset of the next.
Source: WordNet 2.1
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