Arachnoid granulation
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| Arachnoid granulation | |
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| Diagrammatic representation of a section across the top of the skull, showing the membranes of the brain, etc. ("Arachnoid granulation" label is at top right.) | |
| Gray's | subject #193 878 |
Arachnoid granulations (or arachnoid villi) are small protrusions of the arachnoid (the thin second layer covering the brain) through the dura (the thick outer layer). They protrude into the venous sinuses of the brain, and allow cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) to exit the brain, and enter the blood stream.
Most large granulations lie along the superior sagittal sinus, a large venous space running from front to back along the centre of the head (on the inside of the skull). They are, however, present along other dural sinuses as well. Smaller granulations are called villi, large calcified ones are referred to as pacchionian bodies.
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Function
The arachnoid granulations act as one-way valves. Normally the pressure of the CSF is higher than that of the venous system, so CSF flows through the villi and granulations into the blood. If the pressure is reversed for some reason, fluid will not pass back into the subarachnoid space (of the brain). The reason for this is not known. It has been suggested that the endothelial cells of the venous sinus create vacuoles of CSF, which move through the cell and out into the blood.
Eponym
Occasionally, they are referred to by their old name: Pacchioni's granulations or pacchionian bodies, named after Italian anatomist Antonio Pacchioni.[1]
References
Additional images
 Left parietal bone. Inner surface. |
 Frontal bone. Inner surface. |
Anatomy: meninges of the brain and medulla spinalis | |
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| Layers | Dura mater (Falx cerebri, Tentorium cerebelli, Falx cerebelli, Diaphragma sellae)
Arachnoid mater (Arachnoid granulation) Pia mater |
| Spaces | Epidural space - Subdural space - Subarachnoid space (Cerebrospinal fluid) |
| Subarachnoid cisterns | Cisterna magna - Pontine cistern - Interpeduncular cistern - Chiasmatic - Lateral cerebral fossa - Of great cerebral vein |
