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Concept
Dura mater
Summary
In neuroanatomy, dura mater is a thick membrane made of dense irregular connective tissue that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. It is the outermost of the three layers of membrane called the meninges that protect the central nervous system. The other two meningeal layers are the arachnoid mater and the pia mater. It envelops the arachnoid mater, which is responsible for keeping in the cerebrospinal fluid. It is derived primarily from the neural crest cell population, with postnatal contributions of the paraxial mesoderm.
The dura mater has several functions and layers. The dura mater is a membrane that envelops the arachnoid mater. It surrounds and supports the dural sinuses (also called dural venous sinuses, cerebral sinuses, or cranial sinuses) and carries blood from the brain toward the heart.
Cranial dura mater has two layers called lamellae, a superficial layer (also called the periosteal layer), which serves as the skull's inner periosteum, called the endocranium and a deep layer called the meningeal layer. When it covers the spinal cord it is known as the dural sac or thecal sac. Unlike cranial dura mater, spinal dura mater only has one layer, known as the meningeal layer. The potential space between these two layers is known as the epidural space.
The dura separates into two layers at dural reflections (also known as dural folds), places where the inner dural layer is reflected as sheet-like protrusions into the cranial cavity. There are two main dural reflections:
The tentorium cerebelli exists between and separates the cerebellum and brainstem from the occipital lobes of the cerebrum.
The falx cerebri, which separates the two hemispheres of the brain, is located in the longitudinal cerebral fissure between the hemispheres.
Two other dural infoldings are the cerebellar falx and the sellar diaphragm:
The cerebellar falx (falx cerebelli) is a vertical dural infolding that lies inferior to the cerebellar tentorium in the posterior part of the posterior cranial fossa. It partially separates the cerebellar hemispheres.
Official source
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