macula densa
The macula densa is an area of specialized cells in the distal tubule that makes contact with the vascular pole of the glomerulus[GO]. Every claim on this page comes from the Leumas anatomy graph and carries its source.
What the macula densa is
The macula densa is an area of specialized cells in the distal tubule that makes contact with the vascular pole of the glomerulus[GO]. The atlas records it as a tissue at the tissue scale in the human body.
Where the macula densa is
It sits in the abdomen and trunk, within the urinary system. Not positioned individually. Drawn inside the structure this dataset says contains it — the containment is asserted, the exact spot within it is not.
What the macula densa connects to
The atlas records 5 typed relationships for it, across 2 kinds of connection. part of juxtaglomerular apparatus, kidney and nephron.
Supply and innervation
This dataset asserts no arterial supply, venous drainage or innervation for the macula densa. Only a minority of structures carry those edges here, so an empty answer means nothing has been recorded — not that there is nothing to record.
Source
Uberon multi-species anatomy ontology (Mungall et al.), CC BY 4.0. Term UBERON:0002335, version 2026-06-19, retrieved 2026-08-24. Licence: CC-BY-4.0.
- Part of: juxtaglomerular apparatus, kidney and nephron.
- A kind of: epithelium and region of nephron tubule.
Questions
Where is the macula densa?
It sits in the abdomen and trunk, within the urinary system. Not positioned individually. Drawn inside the structure this dataset says contains it — the containment is asserted, the exact spot within it is not.
What does the macula densa connect to?
Part of: juxtaglomerular apparatus, kidney and nephron.
Is the macula densa the same in other species?
Leumas holds the same relationship vocabulary for every species it carries, so where another dataset records this structure you can put the two side by side on /compare.