BSC 215 Lecture Notes - Lecture 31: Dural Venous Sinuses, Arachnoid Granulation, Dura Mater
11 Jun 2018
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The Meninges
The meninges (singular, meninx) are protective coverings of the brain (cranial
meninges) and spinal cord (spinal meninges). They consist of three layers of
membranous connective tissue:
• The dura mater is the tough outer layer lying just inside the skull and
vertebrae. Some characteristics follow:
o In the brain, there are channels within the dura mater, the dural
sinuses, which contain venous blood returning from the brain to
the jugular veins.
o In the spinal cord, the dura mater is often referred to as
the dural sheath. A fat‐filled space between the dura mater and
the vertebrae, the epidural space, acts as a protective cushion
to the spinal cord.
• The arachnoid (arachnoid mater) is the middle meninx. Projections
from the arachnoid, called arachnoid villi, protrude through one layer
of the dura mater into the dural sinuses. The arachnoid villi transport
the CSF from the subarachnoid space to the dural sinuses. Two
cavities border the arachnoid:
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Document Summary
The meninges (singular, meninx) are protective coverings of the brain (cranial meninges) and spinal cord (spinal meninges). They consist of three layers of membranous connective tissue: the dura mater is the tough outer layer lying just inside the skull and vertebrae. In the brain, there are channels within the dura mater, the dural sinuses, which contain venous blood returning from the brain to the jugular veins. In the spinal cord, the dura mater is often referred to as the dural sheath. A fat filled space between the dura mater and the vertebrae, the epidural space, acts as a protective cushion to the spinal cord: the arachnoid (arachnoid mater) is the middle meninx. Projections from the arachnoid, called arachnoid villi, protrude through one layer of the dura mater into the dural sinuses. The arachnoid villi transport the csf from the subarachnoid space to the dural sinuses.
