You feel healthy, you look better, blood flow to the brain is improved (since your brain is a highly vascular organ), and your body runs better altogether.
|
|
Classified as a sensory circumventricular organ (along with the SFO and AP), the vascular organ of lamina terminalis (VOLT) is situated in the anterior wall of the third ventricle. Characteristically of the CVOs, it lacks the tight endothelial blood brain barrier. The vascular organ is further characterized by the afferent inputs from the subfornical organ (SFO), the median pre-optic nucleus (MnPO) region, the brainstem, and even the hypothalamus. Conversely, the vascular organ of the lamina terminalis maintains efferent projections to the stria medullaris and basal ganglia.
|
|
The vascular organ of lamina terminalis (VOLT), organum vasculosum of the lamina terminalis (OVLT), or supraoptic crest is one of the four sensory circumventricular organs of the brain, the others being the subfornical organ, the median eminence, and the area postrema in the brainstem.
|
|
Circumventricular organs (CVOs) are individual structures located adjacent to the fourth ventricle or third ventricle in the brain, and are characterized by dense capillary beds with permeable endothelial cells unlike those of the blood-brain barrier. Included among CVOs having highly permeable capillaries are the area postrema, subfornical organ, vascular organ of the lamina terminalis, median eminence, pineal gland, and three lobes of the pituitary gland. Permeable capillaries of the sensory CVOs (area postrema, subfornical organ, vascular organ of the lamina terminalis) enable rapid detection of circulating signals in systemic blood, while those of the secretory CVOs (median eminence, pineal gland, pituitary lobes) facilitate transport of brain-derived signals into the circulating blood. Consequently, the CVO permeable capillaries are the point of bidirectional blood-brain communication for neuroendocrine function.
|
|
An osmoreceptor is a sensory receptor primarily found in the hypothalamus of most homeothermic organisms that detects changes in osmotic pressure. Osmoreceptors can be found in several structures, including two of the circumventricular organs – the vascular organ of the lamina terminalis, and the subfornical organ. They contribute to osmoregulation, controlling fluid balance in the body. Osmoreceptors are also found in the kidneys where they also modulate osmolality.
|
|
Bone hemostasis is the process of controlling the bleeding from bone. Bone is a living vascular organ containing channels for blood and bone marrow. When a bone is cut during surgery bleeding can be a difficult problem to control, especially in the highly vascular bones of the spine and sternum. Bleeding from soft tissue is normally stopped using a cautery that creates heat, causing blood vessels to collapse and become sealed.
|
|
Osmoreceptors are located in the vascular organ of lamina terminalis (VOLT) a circumventricular organ which lacks a blood-brain barrier. They have a defined functionality as neurons that are endowed with the ability to detect extracellular fluid osmolarity. The VOLT is strongly interconnected with the median preoptic nucleus, and together these structures comprise the anteroventral third ventricle region. Osmoreceptors have aquaporin 4 proteins spanning through their plasma membranes in which water can diffuse, from an area of high to low water concentration.
|
|
The sensory organs include the area postrema, the subfornical organ, and the vascular organ of lamina terminalis, all having the ability to sense signals in blood, then pass that information neurally to other brain regions. Through their neural circuitry, they provide direct information to the autonomic nervous system from the systemic circulation. The secretory organs include the subcommissural organ (SCO), the pituitary gland, the median eminence, and the pineal gland. These organs are responsible for secreting hormones and glycoproteins into the peripheral blood using feedback from both the brain environment and external stimuli.
|
|
Additionally, cytokines may act on the vascular organ of the lamina terminalis, leading to the synthesis of prostaglandin (PG) E2 which acts on the hypothalamus, resulting in an increase in body temperature. Also, the release of cytokines and exogenous exotoxins coupled with an increase in intracranial pressure stimulate nociceptors in the meninges creating pain sensations. The release of cytotoxic molecules in the central nervous system results in extensive tissue damage and necrosis, such as damage to the olfactory nerve through lysis of nerve cells and demyelination.. Specifically, the olfactory nerve and bulbs become necrotic and hemorrhagic.
|
|
As previously mentioned, the vascular organ of lamina terminalis features neurons responsible for the homeostatic conservation of osmolarity. In addition, the fenestrated vasculature of the VOLT allows the astrocytes and neurons of the VOLT to perceive a wide variety of plasma molecules whose signals may be transduced into other regions of the brain, thereby eliciting autonomic and inflammatory reactions. In experiments, mammalian VOLT neurons were shown to transduce hypertonicity by the activation of the TRPV1 nonselective cation channels. These channels are highly permeable to calcium and are responsible for membrane depolarization and increased action potential discharge.
|
|
The median portion of the wall of the forebrain consists of a thin lamina, the lamina terminalis, which stretches from the interventricular foramen (Foramen of Monro) to the recess at the base of the optic stalk (optic nerve) and contains the vascular organ of the lamina terminalis, which regulates the osmotic concentration of the blood. The lamina terminalis is immediately anterior to the tuber cinereum; together they form the pituitary stalk. The lamina terminalis can be opened via endoscopic neurosurgery in an attempt to create a path that cerebrospinal fluid can flow through when a person has hydrocephalus and when it is not possible to perform an Endoscopic third ventriculostomy, but the effectiveness of this technique is not certain. This is the rostral end (tip) of the neural tube (embryological central nervous system) in the early weeks of development.
|
|
The superior part of the posterior border constitutes the habenular commissure, while more centrally it the pineal gland, which regulates sleep and reacts to light levels. Caudal of the pineal gland is the posterior commissure; nerve fibres reach the posterior commissure from the adjacent midbrain, but their onward connection is currently uncertain. The commissures create concavity to the shape of the posterior ventricle border, causing the suprapineal recess above the habenular, and the deeper pineal recess between the habenular and posterior commissures; the recesses being so-named due to the pineal recess being bordered by the pineal gland. The hypothalmic portion of the third ventricle (upper right), and surrounding structures The anterior wall of the ventricle forms the lamina terminalis, within which the vascular organ monitors and regulates the osmotic concentration of the blood; the cerebrum lies beyond the lamina, and causes it to have a slightly concave shape.
|
|
Circumventricular organs (CVOs) (circum-: around ; ventricular: of ventricle) are structures in the brain characterized by their extensive and highly permeable capillaries, unlike those in the rest of the brain where there exists a blood–brain barrier (BBB) at the capillary level. Although the term "circumventricular organs" was originally proposed in 1958 by Austrian anatomist Helmut O. Hofer concerning structures around the brain ventricular system, the penetration of blood-borne dyes into small specific CVO regions was discovered in the early 20th century. The permeable CVOs enabling rapid neurohumoral exchange include the subfornical organ (SFO), the area postrema (AP), the vascular organ of lamina terminalis (VOLT), the median eminence, the pituitary neural lobe, and the pineal gland. The circumventricular organs are midline structures around the third and fourth ventricles that are in contact with blood and cerebrospinal fluid, and they facilitate special types of communication between the central nervous system and peripheral blood.
|
|