PIA MATER - Definition

Pronunciation:		`pIu'meytur
WordNet Dictionary

	Definition:	[n] the highly vascular innermost of the 3 meninges

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	See Also:	leptomeninges, meninges, meninx

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

	Definition:	\Pi"a ma"ter\ [NL., fr. L. pia (fem. of pius tender, kind) + mater mother.] (Anat.) The delicate and highly vascular membrane immediately investing the brain and spinal cord.

Biology Dictionary

	Definition:	The three membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord; going from skull to the brain, the membranes are the dura mater (the toughest of the three, a.k.a the pachymennix), the arachnoid (so called because it resembles a web) and the pia mater (delicate and highly vascular).