Subarachnoid space

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Subarachnoid space
Image:Gray769.png
Diagrammatic representation of a section across the top of the skull, showing the membranes of the brain, etc. ("Subarachnoid cavity" visible at left.)
Image:Gray770.png
Diagrammatic transverse section of the medulla spinalis and its membranes. (Subarachnoid cavity labeled center.)
Latin	spatium subarachnoideum, cavum subarachnoideale
Gray's	subject #193 876
MeSH	Subarachnoid+Space
Dorlands/Elsevier	s_16/12746651

For the psychedelic rock band, see SubArachnoid Space.

The subarachnoid cavity (subarachnoid space) is the interval between the arachnoid mater and pia mater.

It is occupied by a spongy tissue consisting of trabeculæ (delicate connective tissue filaments that extend from the arachnoid mater and blend into the pia mater) and intercommunicating channels in which the cerebrospinal fluid is contained.

This cavity is small on the surface of the hemispheres of the brain; on the summit of each gyrus the pia mater and the arachnoid are in close contact; but in the sulci between the gyri, triangular spaces are left, in which the subarachnoid trabecular tissue is found, for the pia mater dips into the sulci, whereas the arachnoid bridges across them from gyrus to gyrus.

At certain parts of the base of the brain, the arachnoid is separated from the pia mater by wide intervals, which communicate freely with each other and are named subarachnoid cisternæ; in these the subarachnoid tissue is less abundant.

[edit] See Also

Subarachnoid hemorrhage

[edit] External links

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.