The Ventricular System Flashcards
What are the largest spaces/ventricle?
The lateral ventricles; one within each hemisphere.
What are ventricles?
A series of inter-connected fluid filled spaces that lie deep in the forebrain and brainstem.
What does the third ventricle form?
A narrow midline space between the right and left thalamus. It communicates with the lateral ventricles by a small opening (the intraventricular foramen) at the anterior end of the third ventricle.
What is the third ventricle continuously caudally with?
The cerebral aqueduct; which runs through the mid brain. At its caudal end the aqueduct opens into the fourth ventricle. Which is a larger space in the dorsal pons and medulla.
The fourth ventricle narrows caudally to form the central canal of the spinal cord.
What are the ventricles filled with?
The ventricles are filled with cerebral spinal fluid. The lateral this and fourth ventricles are the sites of choroid plexus which produces the fluid.
What happens to the cerebral spinal fluid?
The cerebrospinal fluid percolates through the ventricular system and flows into the subarachnoid space through perforations in the thin covering of the fourth ventricle.
The fluid is eventually absorbed by specialised structures called aracanoid villi. And is thus returned to the venous circulation.
