pia mater

Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Financial, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

pia mater

[pi´ah ma´ter] (L.)

the innermost of the three meninges covering the brain and spinal cord.

pi·a mat·er

(pī'ă mā'tĕr, pē'ă mah'tĕr), [TA]

A delicate vasculated fibrous membrane firmly adherent to the glial capsule of the brain (pia mater cranialis [TA]) and spinal cord (pia mater spinalis [TA] or membrana limitans gliae); following exactly the outer markings of the cerebrum and also the ependymal lining circumference of the choroid membranes and plexus, it invests the cerebellum but not so intimately as it does the cerebrum, not dipping down into all the smaller sulci. The pia mater and the arachnoid are collectively called leptomeninx [TA], as distinguished from dura mater or pachymeninx.

Synonym(s): pia

[L. tender, affectionate mother]

Farlex Partner Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012

pia mater

(mā′tər, mä′tər)

The fine vascular membrane that closely envelops the brain and spinal cord under the arachnoid and the dura mater.

pi·a mat·er

(pī'ă mā'tĕr) [TA]

A delicate, vasculated fibrous membrane firmly adherent to the glial capsule of the brain (pia mater cranialis [encephali] [TA]) and spinal cord (pia mater spinalis [TA] or membrana limitans gliae); following exactly the outer markings of the cerebrum and also the ependymal lining circumference of the choroid membranes and plexus, it invests the cerebellum but not so intimately as it does the cerebrum, not dipping down into all the smaller sulci. The pia mater and the arachnoid are collectively called leptomeninges, as distinguished from dura mater or pachymeninx.
Synonym(s): pia.

[L. tender, affectionate mother]

Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing © Farlex 2012

pia mater

The delicate, innermost layer of the MENINGES. The pia follows the convolutions of the brain, dipping into the SULCI.

Collins Dictionary of Medicine © Robert M. Youngson 2004, 2005

pia mater

a thin, inner membrane or meninge surrounding the brain and spinal cord. see MENINGES.

Collins Dictionary of Biology, 3rd ed. © W. G. Hale, V. A. Saunders, J. P. Margham 2005

pia mater

A delicate fibrous membrane closely enveloping the brain, spinal cord and the optic nerve. It terminates at the eye.

References in periodicals archive ?

Laser Doppler perfusion revealed that the baseline level of blood perfusion of pia mater in WKY rats was significantly higher than that in SHRs at baseline (P < 0.05) (Table 3).

Results from intravital microscopy revealed no significant change in diameter of microvessels after 14-day vehicle treatment in both SHRs and WKY rats as compared with controls, which indicates that propanediol had no effect on microvascular tension in pia mater in SHRs and WKY rats (Table 1).

Puerarin attenuates cerebral damage by improving cerebral microcirculation in spontaneously hypertensive rats

Chambers, that the word 'matter' in a preface to Cavendish's Poems and Fancies supports a 'third meaning, pia mater, or the membrane covering the brain', suggests the wisdom of fearing those with interpretations to give away.

The Wit of Seventeenth-Century Poetry

Medulla oblongata: The Medulla oblongata was covered by pia mater of loose connective tissue covered with simple squamous epithelium, vascular supply extended beneath the pia mater (Fig.

Morphological Investigation of the Brain of the African Ostrich (Struthio camelus)/Investigacion Morfologica del Cerebro de la Avestruz Africana (Struthio camelus)

The onset of the block is somewhat intermediate between that of a subarachnoid and epidural block, because the nerves in the subdural space are covered with pia and arachnoid maters, as compared to the subarachnoid space where the nerves are sheathed by pia mater only and the epidural space where arachnoid, pia and dura mater envelop the nerves.

Subdural block and the anaesthetist

It's actually a collection of three layered membranes: the dura, arachnoid, and pia maters. The outer, dura mater (literally, tough mother) is a tough and fibrous outer covering.