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Essential anatomy of the cranial cavity and brain

Published on November 30, 2025   27 min

Other Talks in the Series: Introduction to Gross Anatomy for Medicine

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0:00
Hello, I'm Prof. Iain Keenan. I'm a professor of anatomical education at the School of Medicine at Newcastle University in the UK. I'm going to talk to you about the essential anatomy of the human brain and the anatomy of the human cranial cavity.
0:19
During my lecture, I'll introduce you to the embryological origins of both the cranial cavity and the brain and use these embryological origins as the basis for describing the gross anatomy of these structures in the adult human. We'll look first at the cranial cavity including the bones of the neurocranium, the meninges, the internal surfaces of the neurocranium and the foramina. Those foramina allow the passage of cranial nerves to exit from the cranial cavity. Then we'll look at the brain itself, including the key structures that are derived from the embryonic forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain. Finally, we'll consider the ventricular system, the blood supply and the venous drainage of the brain.
1:05
The cranial cavity, which is also known as the intercranial space, as you might expect, is the space within the skull that contains the brain, and it has boundaries. So the bones that make up the skull, the neurocranium, which is the part of the skull that contains the brain. Then we've also got the meninges as well. It's important to consider and understand the three-dimensional spatial anatomy of the cranial cavity in its own right in addition to the brain itself, and the size, shape and position of the brain within the cranial cavity. Like I said, the boundaries of the space of the intercranial cavity are formed from the bones of the neurocranium and the meninges. The meninges are membranes that surround and protect the brain. So they consist of the dura mater, the arachnoid mater and the pia mater.

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