Description
The meninges consist of three membranes that surround and protect the central nervous system by anchoring it to the surrounding bones and bathing it in shock absorbing cerebrospinal fluid.
The inner layer is the pia mater which lies directly against the brain and spinal cord. The middle layer with its wispy web like connections is the arachnoid mater. It is between the pia and arachnoid mater, in the subarachnoid space, that extraventricular cerebrospinal fluid is found.
The outer layer is the dura mater. Dura mater, which translates as “tough mother”, is a dense fibrous membrane that contains both an outer periosteal layer and an inner meningeal layer.
Related parts of the anatomy
