1. Intracranial fluid compartments.
Intracranial fluid compartments. Continuous arrows represent the direction of the CSF flow. Interrupted arrows indicate where a diffusion of water or solutes can occur between brain capillaries, CSF, and nervous tissue: (a) across the blood-brain barrier; (b) across the epithelium of the choroid plexus; (c) across the ependyma; (d) across the pia-glial membranes at the surface of the brain and spinal cord; (e and f) across the cell membranes of neurons and glial cells. The thick line represents the dura mater and arachnoidea surrounding the system. (Reproduced from reference 42 with permission of Churchill Livingstone.)‏
Roland Nau et al. Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 2010; doi: /CMR