Medical Term:
central gray substance
Definition:
- in general, the predominantly small-celled gray matter adjoining or surrounding the central canal of the spinal cord and the third and fourth ventricles of the brainstem;
- in particular, the thick sleeve of gray matter surrounding the cerebral sylvian aqueduct in the midbrain, rostrally continuous with the posterior nucleus of the hypothalamus; in sections stained for myelin it stands out from the adjoining tectum and tegmentum by the paucity of its myelinated fibers.
Synonym(s): substantia grisea centralisTA, periaqueductal gray substance
