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Gross Anatomy of the Brain

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Noback's Human Nervous System, Seventh Edition

Abstract

The average human brain weighs about 1,500 g (3 lbs) or approximately 2% of the body weight of a 150-lb adult. The brain, a gelatinous mass, is invested by a succession of three connective tissue membranes called meninges and is protected by an outer capsule of bone, the skull. The brain floats in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), which supports it and acts as a shock absorber in rapid movements of the head. The major arteries and veins supplying the brain lie among the meninges.

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Strominger, N.L., Demarest, R.J., Laemle, L.B. (2012). Gross Anatomy of the Brain. In: Noback's Human Nervous System, Seventh Edition. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-779-8_1

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