fourth ventricle
1
6.8
- noun
- /fɔrθ ˈvɛntrɪkəl/
- Specialized
:
cuarto ventrículo
- Your diet is very inflammatory, and it is being transmitted to your area postrema in your fourth ventricle. This causes minor swelling and ironically low vitamin D levels.
Examples
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The doctor explained that the flow of cerebrospinal fluid involves the fourth ventricle, which is located near the spinal cord.
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We're passing through the fourth ventricle and it's normal.
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The area postrema is located laterally along the floor of the fourth ventricle; it is not protected by the blood-brain barrier.
Academic text (2005) -
The chemoreceptor trigger zone, contained in the area postrema on the floor of the fourth ventricle, is especially sensitive to chemical stimuli such as opioids.
Academic text (2003) -
Intraventricular cysticercosis shows isolated cysts in the fourth ventricle and provides the same signal intensity on CT and MRI.
Academic text (2016) -
In a medical imaging scan, the fourth ventricle appeared to be normal, indicating healthy brain function.
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Surgeons accessed the fourth ventricle during the procedure to relieve pressure and improve cerebrospinal fluid circulation.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'fourth' indicates the ordinal position of the noun 'ventricle' (a brain cavity). Given knowledge of both constituents, a learner can infer it denotes the ventricle in the fourth position involved in cerebrospinal fluid circulation, so the sense is predictable and non-idiomatic.
Etymology
Fourth ventricle comes from thinking of the brain as a house with small rooms: a ventricle meant a small hollow or 'little belly', and the fourth is the room near the spinal cord where fluid passes. So, the fourth ventricle is the small space in the brain where the fluid around the brain flows toward the spinal cord.