Lectures 6 + 7 - Brain and Environs Flashcards
What are foramina?
Holes in the skull, through which cranial nerves, blood vessels and the spinal cord enter and leave the cranial vault.
What is the largest foramen?
Foramen Magnum.
This is where the brain stem and spinal cord sits.
It is at the base of skull.
This is also where the medulla and spinal cord meet - cervicomedullary junction
Which fossa contains the frontal lobes?
Each side of the anterior fossa
Which fossa contain the temporal lobes?
Middle fossa
Which fossa contains the brainstem and cerebellum
Posterior fossa
What is the sphenoid bone?
It divides the anterior fossa and the middle fossa (just the lesser wing)
What divides the middle and posterior fossa?
ridge of temporal bone and sheet of meninges.
What are the three layers of the meninges.
from outside the inside
Dura
Arachnoid
Pia
What is the dura?
It is the outermost layer of the meninges.
It is composed of two layers which are fused together, except for in two cases where they seperate.
Where are the two areas where the two dura layers are un-fused?
- Falx cerebri - sheet of dura that seperates the right and left hemispheres in the interhemispheric fissure.
- Tentorium cerebelli - tent-like sheet of dura that covers the upper surface of the cerebellum
What is the falx cerebri?
sheet of dura that seperates the right and left hemispheres in the interhemispheric fissure.
This is one of two areas where the two dura layers seperate.
What is the tentorium cerebelli
ent-like sheet of dura that covers the upper surface of the cerebellum
This is one of two areas where the two dura layers seperate.
What are the two layers of the dura called?
- Periosteal layer (adhered to inner surface of skull) & Meningeal Layer
What are cerebral sinuses?
The dural venous sinuses lie between the periosteal and meningeal layers of the dura mater. They are best thought of as collecting pools of blood, which drain the central nervous system, the face, and the scalp.
All the dural venous sinuses ultimately drain into the internal jugular vein. Unlike most veins of the body, the dural venous sinuses do not have valves.
main one would be the superior sagittal sinus.
Describe the arachnoid
spidery meningeal layer that adheres to the inner surface of dura
CSF trickles through this
What is the pia
it is the innermost layer of the meninges.
It is a thin layer of cells that adheres very closely to the surface of the brain, follows along the gyri and deep into the sulci.
What supplies the dura mater blood?
middle meningeal artery.
runs through the epidural space.
Describe the subdural space
The subdural space is between the dura and arachnoid.
- Bridging veins go through this subdural space.
- These veins drain cerebral hemispheres and pass through subdural space to several dural venous sinuses.
What is the superior sagittal sinus?
It is a dural venous sinus that lies between the two layers of dura, and drains deoxygenated blood mainly via the SIGMOID sinuses to reach the INTERNAL JUGULAR VEINS.
What is the subarachnoid space
This is the space between the arachnoid and pia.
It is filled with CSF.
Also has major arteries travelling through it, and send smaller penetrating branches through the pia.
Where can you find the three meningeal layers?
It covers the entire CNS.
This includes the brain, and the entire spinal cord.
What are the inner walls of ventricles lined by?
ependymal cells
these keep the CSF from leaking out onto the surface of the brain.
Where is CSF produced?
by the choroid plexus, which is inside the ventricles.
Describe what the ventricles consist of.
- 2 lateral ventricles
- 3rd ventricle which is in the diencephalon
- 4th ventricle which is surrounded by the medulla, pons and cerebellum.