Dura mater (cranial)
Dura mater cranialis
NervousOrgansHead
- What it is
- The thick, tough outer membrane lining the inside of the skull, fused with the periosteum. Its inner layer folds inward to form the falx cerebri and tentorium cerebelli, and the dural venous sinuses run between its layers.
- Function
- Protects the brain, holds it in place and drains its venous blood through the dural sinuses.
- Size
- About 0.5-1 mm thick; encloses ~1,400 ml of brain and CSF
- Clinical note
- Arterial bleeding between skull and dura (extradural haematoma, often from the middle meningeal artery) can kill within hours after a "lucid interval"; the dura itself is pain-sensitive, unlike the brain.