The term cistern of the lamina terminalis (cislt) refers to the narrow cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) filled sace between the pia mater (pia) and arachnoid (arac) covering some or all of the surface of the lamina terminalis (lter). While demonstrated histologically by fiber stain in the human ( Riley-1943 ), it does not appear in current histological atlases of the human ( Mai-1997 ), macaque ( Paxinos-2009a ), rat ( Paxinos-2009b ) or mouse ( Franklin-2008 ). Noninvasivee imaging of human has shown significant flow of CSF into the brain (BRN) through the space rostral to lamina terminalis in the human ( Rai-2022 ). Higher resolution methods in the rat ( Bedussi-2017 ), however, have shown that CSF can enter the BRN through a narrow space around intracerebral arteries as well as through arteries in subarachnoid space. Thus, the space identified by Riley-1943 and Rai-2022 ) may or may not include a subarachnoid component.Until that issue is settled, NeuroNames retains the concept 'cistern of the lamina terminalis' but acknowledges that data relevant to the question of which species have it has not been located. In either case, the cisltIt is not part of the BRN but rather a cushioning support against BRN trauma and a flowing CSF that conducts biologically important substances from rostral to caudal regions of the central nervous system (CNS). Updated 11 Dec 2025.