CRANIAL MENINGES

CRANIAL MENINGES
• Dura mater: outer and inner layers
• Arachnoid mater: epithelial layer and arachnoid
trabeculae
• Pia mater: sticks to brain surface
• Pia and arachnoid = leptomeninges
• Dural folds hold the brain in position -
– Falx cerebri
– Tentorium cerebelli
• Dural sinuses (veins located within the folds)
VENTRICLES OF THE BRAIN
• Lined with ependymal cells
• Lateral ventricle (each hemisphere)
• Septum pellucidum (thin partition)
• Third ventricle (in diencephalon)
• Cerebral aqueduct (in midbrain)
• Fourth ventricle: (lies between pons and cerebellum,
continuous with central canal of spinal cord)
• CSF flows within ventricles, central canal and into
subarachnoid space.
 CEREBROSPINAL FLUID
• Surrounds and bathes the CNS
• Functions:
1. Supporting of brain and spinal cord
2. Transport of nutrients, chemical messengers, and
waste products
 THE FORMATION OF CSF
• Choroid plexus: contains specialised
ependymal cells and capillaries (500ml/day),
total volume: 150ml
• Choroid plexuses secrete CSF into ventricles
• Circulation:
– from choroid plexus to ventricles and central canal
of spinal cord to subarachnoid space to sinuses.
 Circulation (cont.):
• CSF reaches subarachnoid space through two
lateral apertures and a single medial aperture
in the 4th ventricle
• Arachnoid villi (granulations): penetrate
duramater meningeal layer of venous sinuses,
CSF absorbed into the venous circulation
• Hydrocephalus: “water in the brain”
BLOOD SUPPLY TO THE BRAIN

• High demand for oxygen and nutrients

• Arterial blood through: internal carotid and vertebral
arteries
• Venous blood from brain in the internal jugular veins
• Cerebrovascular accidents (CVA): stroke, shutting off
blood supply to brain.
 BLOOD-BRAIN BARRIER
• Endothelial cell connected by tight junctions
• Astrocytic endfeet surround brain
microvessels.
• Only lipid soluble compounds diffuse through
• Water and ions: channels in apical and basal
cell membranes
• Larger polar substances: by active transport
• Transport is selective between blood and brain,
and between blood and spinal cord
 BBB
• Blood-brain barrier is intact throughout
except:
1. Portions of hypothalamus (hormones)
2. Capillaries in posterior pituitary
3. Capillaries in pineal gland
4. Capillaries of choroid plexuses