Pons
A specific section of the brain formed by the rounded prominence on the front surface of the brainstem. (The brainstem is the lowest part of the brain that merges with the spinal cord; it consists of a structure called the medulla oblongata, the midbrain and the pons.) Cranial nerves V, VI, VII and VIII take origin at the border of the pons.
Pons is Latin for bridge. It is short for the pons Varolii, the bridge of Varoli, named for a 16th-century Italian surgeon and anatomist Costanzo Varoli. The pons bridges that portion of the central nervous system between the medulla oblongata and the midbrain.
The adjective for pons is pontine. Transpontine means across the bridge. In London, transpontine refers to one side of the River Thames, the south side, where the theaters playing popular melodramas were located in Victorian days. Cross a bridge over the Thames and you were in the more respectable cispontine sector of London.
Read Also:
- Pontiac fever
Legionella; Legionellosis (Legionnaire Disease and Pontiac Fever); Legionnaire disease.
- Ponto-
Pertaining to the pons, a structure in the brain.
- Pool, gene
The sum total of genes, with all their variations, possessed by a particular species at a particular time. (Not something to dive into.)
- Poor circulation
An inadequacy of blood flow. Inadequate blood flow to a particular area of the body can result in too little oxygen being delivered to that area, a condition known as hypoxia. The term poor circulation may be used to refer to peripheral vascular disease (or peripheral arterial disease), a condition that develops when the arteries […]
- Popcorn worker's lung
A form of bronchiolitis obliterans, a severe obstructive lung disease, in workers who mix and package flavored microwave-popcorn or are involved in other flavoring manufacturing. In a typical case, a 40-year-old woman began work on a microwave-popcorn packaging line. She had no chest symptoms, had never smoked, and was accustomed to walking 3 to 5 […]