The MeSH Tree Structure

MeSH vocabulary is organized by 16 main branches:

1. Anatomy
2. Organisms
3. Diseases
4. Chemical and Drugs
5. Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and Equipment
6. Psychiatry and Psychology
7. Biological Sciences
8. Natural Sciences
9. Anthropology, Education, Sociology and Social Phenomena
10. Technology, Industry, Agriculture
11. Humanities
12. Information Science
13. Named Groups
14. Health Care
22. Publication Characteristics
26. Geographic Locations

This example displays part of the hierarchy that includes the term, Face. Notice the narrower terms indented under the broader terms.

When PubMed searches a MeSH term, it will automatically include narrower terms in the search, if applicable. This is also called "automatic explosion."

Some terms occur in more than one place in the hierarchy. For example, "Eye" appears under the Anatomy branch, but also under the Sense Organs branch. Automatic explosion will include narrower terms from all instances of the term in the hierarchy.

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