1.9: Serosa (Serous Membranes)

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Rosanna Hartline
West Hills College Lemoore

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Serosa (Serous Membranes)

The ventral body cavities are enclosed inside serous membranes (serosa) that line the cavities and the organs inside them and create fluids that lubricate cushion the cavities to protect the organs prevent friction during movement. Parietal serosa line the body cavities and visceral serosa line the outer part of the organs within the body cavity. Therefore, parietal serous membranes are the outer membranes lining a body cavity and visceral serous membranes are the inner membranes lining a body cavity. Serous fluid produced by these membranes is located between the visceral and parietal layers.

Diagram showing how visceral serosa wrap the outside of an organ, parietal serosa wrap the inside layer of the body cavity, and between the two serosa is serous fluid.

Serous membranes are named not only using the terms "visceral" and "parietal", but also describing the body cavity where they are located. Serosa of the pleural cavities are called either parietal pleural or visceral pleural. Serosa of the pericardial cavity are called either parietal pericardium or visceral pericardium. Serosa of the abdominopelvic cavity are called either parietal peritoneum or visceral peritoneum but there are additional names given to the serous membranes of the abdominopelvic cavity that are covered more in depth in the digestive system chapter.

Two human figures showing the pleural serosa and the pericardial serosa.

Attributions

"Anatomy and Physiology Lab Reference" by Laird C Sheldahl, OpenOregonEducational Resources, Mt. Hood Community College is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
"BIOL 250 Human Anatomy Lab Manual SU 19" by Yancy Aquino, Skyline College is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0