Head skin skull dura mater

The dura mater of the skull and skin is a relatively tough double-layer membrane. Its outer layer is the periosteum on the inner surface of the skull, which can promote the firmness of the skull sutures and skull base tissues, which can play a good role in protecting the brain tissue. The dura mater is divided into three main layers. Its tissues are also relatively rich, such as the dura mater blood vessels. Let’s learn more about this aspect below. Let’s take a look.

Head skin skull dura mater

The dura mater is the outermost of the three membranes. It is thick and dense and consists of two layers: the inner layer or meningeal layer and the outer layer or endosteum. Except for the two layers that surround the venous sinuses that drain blood into the brain, the rest of the parts are combined into one layer.

The dura mater is attached to the inner surface of the skull, and blood vessels and fiber bundles enter the skull through it. The dura mater is tightly attached to the bone around the sutures, skull base, and foramen magnum. In children, it is difficult to remove the dura mater from the sutures. In adults, the dura mater separates from the sutures at the fusion sites. As we age, the dura mater thickens, becomes less flexible, and becomes more firmly attached to the inner surface of the skull, especially at the top of the skull.

When the dura mater is separated from the skull, the fiber bundles and blood vessels connecting the dura mater to the skull are torn off, so the outside of the dura mater is rough and fibrous, while the inside is smooth. The endosteal layer of the dura is continuous with the periosteum through cranial sutures and foramina, and with the orbital periosteum through the superior orbital fissure. As cranial nerves pass through the foramina of the skull, the dura mater forms a tubular sheath around the nerves.

As the nerve exits the skull, the sheath fuses with the epineurium. The dura mater sheath of the optic nerve is continuous with the sclera of the eyeball. The meningeal layer of the dura mater folds inward to form four septa, which incompletely divide the cranial cavity into interconnected spaces to accommodate various parts of the brain.

Dural blood vessels

The middle meningeal artery, which mainly originates from the maxillary artery, is an important blood vessel that nourishes the dura mater. It enters the middle cranial fossa from the foramen spinosum at the base of the skull and runs along the middle meningeal artery groove on the inner surface of the temporal bone. Among the blood vessels of the dura mater, there are the anterior meningeal artery from the anterior ethmoid artery, the posterior meningeal artery from the ascending pharyngeal artery, and the meningeal branches of the vertebral artery and occipital artery.