The parenchyma is the
functional parts of an
organ, or of a structure such as a
tumour in the body. This is in contrast to the
stroma, which refers to the
structural tissue of organs or of structures, namely, the
connective tissues.
Brain The brain parenchyma refers to the functional tissue in the
brain that is made up of the two types of
brain cell,
neurons and
glial cells. It is also known to contain collagen proteins. Damage or trauma to the brain parenchyma often results in a loss of cognitive ability or even death. Bleeding into the parenchyma is known as
intraparenchymal hemorrhage.
Lungs Lung parenchyma is the substance of the
lung that is involved with
gas exchange and includes the
pulmonary alveoli.
Liver The liver parenchyma is the functional tissue of the organ made up of around 80% of the
liver volume as
hepatocytes. The other main type of liver cells are non-parenchymal. Non-parenchymal cells constitute 40% of the total number of liver cells but only 6.5% of its volume.
Kidneys The
renal parenchyma is divided into two major structures: the outer
renal cortex and the inner
renal medulla.
Grossly, these structures take the shape of 7 to 18 cone-shaped
renal lobes, each containing renal cortex surrounding a portion of medulla called a
renal pyramid.
Tumors The tumor parenchyma, of a solid
tumour, is one of the two distinct compartments in a solid tumour. The parenchyma is made up of
neoplastic cells. The other compartment is the
stroma induced by the neoplastic cells, needed for nutritional support and waste removal. In many types of tumour, clusters of parenchymal cells are separated by a basal lamina that can sometimes be incomplete. == Flatworms ==