The interface between the brain and the skull consists of three fibrous tissue layers, dura mater, arachnoid, and pia mater, known as the meninges, and strands of collagen tissues connecting the arachnoid to the pia mater, known as trabeculae. The space between the arachnoid and the pia mater is filled with cerebrospinal fluid which stabilizes the shape and position of the brain during head movements or impacts. The histology and architecture of the subarachnoid space trabeculae in the brain are not well established in the literature. The only recognized fact about the trabeculae is that they are made of collagen fibers surrounded by fibroblast cells and they have pillar- and veil-like structures. In this work the histology and the architecture of the brain trabeculae were studied, via a series of in vivo and in vitro experiments using cadaveric and animal tissue. In the cadaveric study fluorescence and bright field microscopy were employed while scanning and transmission electron microscopy were used for the animal studies. The results of this study reveal that the trabeculae are collagen based type I, and their architecture is in the form of tree-shaped rods, pillars, and plates and, in some regions, they have a complex network morphology.
Introduction: The motion of the brain relative to the skull is influenced by the architecture of the subarachnoid space (SAS), and in particular, by the arachnoid trabeculae. In previous studies of these structures, specific shapes were identified. However, the work presented here shows much finer detail of the SAS geometries using SEM and TEM. Materials and methods: These images were acquired by maintaining the SAS structure of a rat using glutaraldehyde formaldehyde to strengthen the tissues via crosslinking with the biological proteins. Results: The results showed the detailed shape of five dominant arachnoid trabeculae structures: single strands, branched strands, tree like shapes, sheets, and trabecular networks. Each of these architectures would provide a different response when exposed to a tensile load and would provide different levels of resistance to the flow of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) within the SAS. Conclusion: This very detailed level of geometric information will therefore allow more accurate finite element models of the SAS to be developed.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.