The lateral ventricles are the two largest of the brain’s four ventricles: one C-shaped, fluid-filled cavity inside each cerebral hemisphere, curving from the frontal lobe back over the thalamus and round into the temporal lobe. [1][2]
The 3D brain needs JavaScript. The text below still says where the lateral ventricles is and what it does.
Slice
Opens cut by a front (coronal) slice through the lateral ventricles. Drag to turn, pinch or scroll to zoom, tap any part to name it; .
Each begins with an inferior (temporal) horn in the temporal lobe, runs up and back into a body under the parietal and frontal lobes, and ends at the interventricular foramen; a posterior (occipital) horn reaches back into the occipital lobe and an anterior (frontal) horn forward into the frontal lobe. [1]
The two front horns are separated only by the septum pellucidum, a thin vertical sheet running from the corpus callosum down to the fornix; the corpus callosum also forms the roof of the body. [1][2]
The caudate nucleus lines the outer wall of the curve and the thalamus lies inside it; the hippocampus forms much of the floor of the inferior horn, which ends at the amygdala. [1]
The trigone, or atrium, is the junction where the body meets the posterior and inferior horns. [1]
What it does
They hold cerebrospinal fluid and make most of it: the choroid plexus in each lateral ventricle runs through the body, the atrium and the inferior horn, but not the front or back horns. [3][4]
The fluid made here flows on through the interventricular foramina into the third ventricle and from there through the rest of the ventricular system. [5]
Connections
Each opens into the third ventricle through its own interventricular foramen (foramen of Monro), which joins the third ventricle where its roof meets its front wall, with the fornix in front and the thalamus behind. [5]
The choroid plexus of each lateral ventricle continues through the foramen into the roof of the third ventricle. [5]
Inside it
A body, three horns (anterior, posterior and inferior; cornua in Latin) and the trigone where they meet. The inferior horn is the largest of the horns; in cross-section the ventricle is flat and roughly triangular. [1]
Other names
Left and right lateral ventricle; they were at one time called the first and second ventricles. The horns are also named after their lobes: the frontal, occipital and temporal horns. [6][1]
Size
On this model the left lateral ventricle measures about 109 mm front to back, 49 mm top to bottom and 39 mm side to side (the box it fits in, not its volume); the right one is its mirror image. [7]
Centre of the left lateral ventricle compared with the centre of the left caudate nucleus: 13 mm further back; 14 mm apart in a straight line. [7]
Centre of the left lateral ventricle compared with the centre of the left thalamus: 4 mm higher, 4 mm further from the midline; 6 mm apart in a straight line. [7]
Facts describe anatomy and normal function only. The 3D model is the adult male BodyParts3D brain (credits and licence); real brains vary in size and shape, so its measurements describe one model, not anyone’s brain.