<p>MeSH is organized into <code>Descriptor &gt; Concept &gt; Term hierarchy</code>, where all the synonymous <code>&lt;term&gt;</code>'s are grouped together under a <code>&lt;concept&gt;</code>. For example, consider the MeSH terms,</p>

<ol>
<li>Blood-Brain Barrier</li>
<li>Hemato-Encephalic Barrier</li>
<li>Brain-Blood Barrier</li>
</ol>

<p>All these terms are group under the umbrella concept of "<a href="https://meshb.nlm.nih.gov/record/ui?ui=D001812" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Blood-brain barrier</a>".</p>

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2019-03-29T10:03:15.887Z
2019-03-29T10:03:15.887Z
PinkBanter
<p>Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) is a very comprehensive vocabulary to index the biomedical literature on Medline or PubMed (which is the major Biomedical literature database). MeSH is arranged into Descriptor > Concept > term hierarchy, but I still do not understand the difference between a MeSH descriptor and a MeSH concept.</p>

<p>For example, for Knee</p>

<ul>
<li>MeSH descriptor is <a href="https://meshb.nlm.nih.gov/record/ui?ui=D007717" rel="nofollow noreferrer">D007717</a> </li>
<li>MeSH concept is <a href="https://meshb.nlm.nih.gov/record/ui?ui=D007717" rel="nofollow noreferrer">M0012066</a> (Under the concepts section in the link)</li>
</ul>

<p>Even after reading the description <a href="https://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/concept_structure.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a> and <a href="https://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/xmlmesh.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>, I am still not sure about the purpose of MeSH concept and MeSH descriptor. </p>

<p>Could anyone please shed some light on it?</p>

<ontology><literature><nomenclature>
What is the difference between a MeSH concept and a MeSH descriptor
# What is the difference between a MeSH concept and a MeSH descriptor

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-03-25)

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) is a very comprehensive vocabulary to index the biomedical literature on Medline or PubMed (which is the major Biomedical literature database). MeSH is arranged into Descriptor > Concept > term hierarchy, but I still do not understand the difference between a MeSH descriptor and a MeSH concept.

For example, for Knee

* MeSH descriptor is [D007717](https://meshb.nlm.nih.gov/record/ui?ui=D007717)
* MeSH concept is [M0012066](https://meshb.nlm.nih.gov/record/ui?ui=D007717) (Under the concepts section in the link)

Even after reading the description [here](https://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/concept_structure.html) and [here](https://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/xmlmesh.html), I am still not sure about the purpose of MeSH concept and MeSH descriptor.

Could anyone please shed some light on it?

**Tags:** ontology, literature, nomenclature

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_0 on 2019-03-29. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

MeSH is organized into `Descriptor > Concept > Term hierarchy`, where all the synonymous 's are grouped together under a . For example, consider the MeSH terms,

1. Blood-Brain Barrier
2. Hemato-Encephalic Barrier
3. Brain-Blood Barrier

All these terms are group under the umbrella concept of "[Blood-brain barrier](https://meshb.nlm.nih.gov/record/ui?ui=D001812)".


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