Planning cranial nerves and meninges

December 8 / 2017

Stage: b) planning

Approaches to learning: Media literacy and information management skills because I searched for the information in different sources and chose the best to reference and use during this research. 

During the making of this research I found myself using only the web page "teach me anatomy" because the information it provides is very complete and easy to understand, I tried researching in other sources but I found the information to be not very complete nor relevant enough. I was very surprised when researching about the meninges because I did not expect it to be divided into three very different parts, however, it was very interesting to learn about them all.

Cranial nerves: - There are 12 paired nerves that come from the brain.

- 2 nerves (olfactory and optic) come from the cerebrum, and the other 10 come from the brain stem.

- In the midbrain there is the trochlear nerve.

- In the pons there is the trigeminal nerve

- In the medulla oblongata there are the vagus, accessory, hypoglossal and glossopharyngeal nerves.

- In the midbrain-pontine junction there is the oculomotor nerve

- In the pontine-medulla junction there are the abducens, facial and vestibulocochlear nerves.

http://teachmeanatomy.info/head/cranial-nerves/summary/

Meninges: - They are three layers that cover the brain and the spinal cord.

- They are called the dura mater, arachnoid mater and the pia mater.

- They all have two very important functions; working with cerebrospinal fluid to protect the CNS from mechanical damage and providing a supportive framework for the cerebral and cranial vasculature.

- Often involved in cerebral pathology 

- It is a common site of infection and inter cranial bleeds.

- The dura matter is the outermost layer of the meninges, it is thick and inextensible. It has two connective tissue sheets; the endosteal layer that lines the inner surface of the bones of the cranium and the meningeal layer that lanes the endosteal layer inside the cranial cavity.  

- Between those layers, there are the dural venous sinuses, they are responsible for the venous vasculature of the cranium.

- The arachnoid mater is the middle layer of the meninges, it basically is a connective tissue that does not receive any innervation.

- The pia matter is located underneath the arachnoid mater, it is very thin and adhered to the surface of the brain and spinal cord. It is highly vascularized.

http://teachmeanatomy.info/neuro/structures/meninges/