The Brain Flashcards
Neural Tube
Walls of the tube forms the brain’s six divisions.
- forms all cells found in the brain and spinal cord, walls become neurons and glial cells, and hollow cavity becomes the central canal and ventricles in the brain
Ventricles
- Chambers traveling down brain’s embryological center to spinal cord
- Contains CSF and distributes nourishments and protects brain
Choroid Plexuses
Specialized blood vessel that makes the CSF
Lateral Ventricles (2)
- cerebral hemispheres
- separated by thin membrane called the septum pellucidum
- interconnected hollow cavities that house CSF
Septum Pellucidum
Thin membrane that separates the lateral ventricles
Interventricular Foramen
What the 2 lateral ventricles lead into and it opens to the third ventricle
Third Ventricle
- deep in the diencephalon
-narrows inferiorly to form the cerebral aqueduct
Cerebral Aqueduct
Travels through the midbrain and connects with the fourth ventricle
Fourth Ventricle
- found between the pons and cerebellum
- large, diamond-shaped expansion
- as it narrows inferiorly, it joins the central canal of the medulla and spinal cord
Central Canal
Passes through the medulla and into the spinal cord
Meninges
Series of membranes
- Dura Mater: most superficial and provides a resilient layer around the brain - 2 sub layers divide to form dural venous sinuses (veins that drain blood from brain and scalp)
- Arachnoid mater: innermost surface of the dura and its fine strands extend across subarachnoid space (filled w/ CSF = watery cushion for brain) to pia mater
- Pia Mater: deepest meninx
CSF
1) CSF enters ventricles from choroid plexuses
2) CSF travels from ventricles to the subarachnoid space
3) CSF absorbed by arachnoid granulations (out-pocketings of the arachnoid mater) and enters the dural venous sinuses
Organization of the Brain
1) Nuclei: central gray matter
2) Ventricles: fluid-filled cavities surrounded by nuclei
3) Cortex: additional superficial region of gray matter
4) white matter containing axons travel to and from the brain’s nuclei and cortex and are ordered into tracts
Commissural Tracts
Connect the right and left sides fo the brain
Projection Tracts
Connect higher and lower regions of CNS. Ascending or descending depending on information flow.
- interneurons of the corticospinal and spinothalamic pathways
Association Tracts
Found in cerebrum and connect one part of the cortex to adjacent regions of the same hemisphere
Cerebral Hemisphere Lobes
1) Frontal
2) Parietal
3) Occipital
4) Temporal
5) Insular - tucked away in lateral sulcus
Gyri
Ridges that cover surface of cerebrum
Sulci
Grooves that cover cerebrum’s surface
Fissures
Major grooves that cover the cerebrum’s surface
Longitudinal Fissure
Separates the right and left hemispheres