Anatomy 3#

Mahmoud Mohammed

The foramina in anterior cranial fossa :

We have perforation in cribriform plate (horizontal)
 Remember :
in the cranial base we have
1- Anterior fossa
of ethmoid bone and passing from it a (Olfactory nerve fibers) 2- Middle fossa
(Smell nerve) 3- Posterior fossa
The foramina in middle cranial fossa : Each fossa has opening
1- Optic canal (hard to be seen) : located in (foramen) :
sphenoid bone (lesser wing). to allow the brain to
its important why ? its communicate the brain or the communicate with
remaining
cranial cavity with the orbit. And passing from it 1- (Optic nervepart
for of the body
vision & 2- Ophthalmic artery (its supply the structures in the orbit).

2- Sup. Orbital fissure (( : located between lesser and greater wings

of sphenoid bone (very hard to be seen). its communicate the brain or
the cranial cavity with the orbit. And passing from it : a very
important nerve its the 1- (ophthalmic nerve) its provide sensation((
for the forehead & anterior half of the skull ((
.
and 2- (Cranial nerve) number 3,4, and 6. We call them the
oculomotor nerve or the nerve of the eyeball muscles.

3- Inf. Orbital fissure (( : Doesnt communicate with cranial cavity

but with another region in the head named (infratemporal fossa) and
we dont have to know about it.

4- Foramen Rotundum (round) : located in the greater wing of

sphenoid and its very important and passing from it 1- (The maxillary
nerve) it goes to the maxillary bone its provide the sensation of upper
teeth.

5- Foramen ovale (behind foramen rotundem) : located in the greater

wing of sphenoid and passing from it 1- (mandibular nerve) its
provide sensation of lower teeth.

6- Foramen Spinosum (behind foramen ovale) : its important , and the

structure of it (enter not leave). We have artery coming inside this
foramen to supply the meninges (meninges artery) , specifically in
middle cranial fossa (passing it). And its a brunch from the maxillary
artery. It will pass between the bone and the meninges and when it
enter through this foramen it will pass forward
and make (groove shape) ().

7- Foramen Lacerum : its different from all other , the different here in
its edge ( ), all others (1,2,3,4,5,6) have smooth edge except this
foramen it has irregular edge (not smooth) , and this tell you that its
not a true foramen. and its covered by cartilage

*read the note first

now the cartilage will be dissolve and appear as a foramen so
when you take a skull from grave and look to it , you will see there
is an opening but actually this is an artifact because in a living human
this area is covered by cartilage (now we can understand , the
foramen lacerum is not present in living human its an artifact after
death specifically after dissolve the cartilage)

look to this figure to see foramen.
Note : after death , the smooth
tissue of soft tissue decompose
first then the cartilage , and
last one the bone and its take
so long to decompose maybe
years.
The foramina in posterior cranial fossa : (the deepest one because its
contain cerebellum).
1- Foramen magnum : passing from it at the edge of the foramen
magnum ,the continuation of the medulla oblongata (the last part of
the brain) and the spinal cord (this is the main one). And in addition to
that there are two artery passing inside to supply the brain, we call
them (vertebral artery) right and left. And there is a (cranial nerve)
number 11 , we call it a (spinal nerve)

2- Jugular Foramen (anterior to the lateral) : why jugular ?! , its a Latin

word for neck and the main vein of neck start from it (referring to the
neck). Located between the temporal & occipital bone. Its very
important because the veins that draining the blood supply of the brain
(
) , and its a large vein.
now , there is something here we
call it the sigmoid venous sinus (all
the accumulation of blood in the
brain will be accumulated there
and passing down
through jugular vein), now at the
level of this foramen, the
sigmoid sinus will leave the brain
into the neck , when it leave
down then will be name the
(jugular vein). Now the question is ,
what passing from it ? , the answer is 1- (the internal jugular vein)
and 2- (Cranial nerves) number 9,10 and 11 , the most famous of
them is number 10 , we call it ( )or (vagus) or (the wandering
nerve)

the petrous part of the temporal bone : look to the figure

its separating between the posterior cranial fossa and middle cranial
fossa (its a part of temporal bone), and its like a mountain and its
called a petrous referring to rock ( ). of you bring a hammer (( Note :
when
, and break it , you will see its empty a large cave the vein
inside it. is large we call it
:
inside this empty the (middle ear and inner ear).
Sinus
when the artery is large we call
it :
Trunk

*external Acoustic Meatus , look to the figure to see

it
3- Int. Acoustic Meatus : its important because its
allow communication of the brain with (middle & inner
ear) .

Passing from it 1- (vestibulocochlear nerve & facial nerve).

facial nerve : cranial nerve num.7 , its enter but doesnt go to the
inner ear , its continue inside the petrous part the exit from down
toward the face
vestibulocochlear nerve : cranial nerve num.8 , it gives innervation for
(vestibule & cochlea). The vestibule responsible for balance & The
cochlea responsible for hearing
Look to the figure.

4- Hypoglossal Canal : in the edge of foramen magnum (anterolat.

Wall of F. magnum)
very hard to be seen , and very small opening , named because
passing from it 1- (hypoglossal nerve) : cranial nerve num.12 , its
responsible for the muscle of the tongue it passing from the brain
directly and goes down into the neck then it will turn reach the tongue
from below

External Surface of Cranial :

*Hard palate is mostly composed of Palatine Processes of
Maxillae this is the anterior two thirds.
*Horizontal Plates of Palatine Bone , this is the posterior third.
the plate of maxillary and palatine bone together will form the hard
palate
Q: Which bone is mostly contributing to the hard palate ?
the answer is : maxillary, because it anterior two thirds to the hard
palate.
something else from maxillary you can see the Alveolar Processes of
Maxillae , its contain alveoli = socket (( , these socket for the
roots of the teeth

Now we have examples for structures are related to temporal bone :

1- mandibular fossa : large depressions on the bone surface , named
because its the area where are the mandible articulate to form a joint (thats
why the mandible was the only movable bone of skull)
2- styloid & mastoid processes :
Styloid processes : long process like a pencil.
Mastoid process : behind your ear.
3- S-M foramen & carotid canal.
 Note :
palate divide into two parts
:
Hard palate : core structure
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------- of it is bone (hard tissue)
Soft palate : core structure
Facial bones (14) : of it muscle (soft tissue)
Zygomatic (2)

Maxilla (2): contributing to the rapper jaw.

Nasal (2): most common to be fractured , small plates.

Lacrimal (2): medial wall of the orbit.

Vomer (1): contributing to the lower half of the nasal septum.

Note : The bone which contributing to the upper half of the nasal septum is
ehmoid (perpendicular plate)

Palatine (2): they are located in inferior aspect.

Inferior Conchae (2): middle and superior are parts of ethmoid bone.

Mandible (1): the strongest one.

The anterior aspect of the skull subdivided into :
1- Forehead.
2- Orbital region.
3- Nasal cavity.
4- Oral region.

The forehead :
Q: Which bone contributed to the forethead ? Frontal bone
Nasion: intersection of frontal & nasal bones.

The orbital Cavity :

its Pyramidal in shape, the top most of the pyramid theres an
opening we called it (Optic canal), while the base of the pyramid where
the eyeball usually bulge to the outside from the orbit. And it has 4
walls (roof , floor , medial & lateral walls) , And each of these walls are
made of 2 bones , except the medial one made of 4 bones.
Roof : Frontal bone and lesser wing of sphenoid.
Floor : Maxillary bone and a small part of palatine bone.
Medial : Maxillary and lacrimal and ethmoid and the body of sphenoid
bone.
Lateral : Zygomatic and greater wing of sphenoid.
And there is a 2 fissure :
Sup. Orbital fissure : between lesser and greater wings of sphenoid.
inf. Orbital fissure : the greater wing of sphenoid bone and the
maxilla.

And the orbital cavity contain :

1- Eyeball
2- Lacrimal apparatus : has 2 structure , lacrimal gland located in the
upper lateral corner , this gland will secrete tears , will go over the
eyeball (inferomedial dirction) and collected in sac , this sac what we
called lacrimal sac. When it fill the tears will drops. And also it has a
canal (duct) that communicate with the nasal cavity , (

The nasal cavity : its the space that wedged between the cranial
cavity above and the oral cavity below.
And its separated into right and left half , by a septum which it made
by
1. perp. Plate of ethmoid (superior)
2. Vomer(inferior)
And it has conchae (superior , middle , inferior) , its provide protection
for the openings of the paranasal sinuses (
)

The maxilla : its empty from inside to reduce the skull weight.
it has a body , and its pyramidal in shape , it has 4 elevation
(processes).
1- frontal process of maxillary bone : toward the frontal bone.
2- zygomatic process of maxillary bone : goes laterally to the
zygomatic.
3- alveolar process of maxillary bone : containing the teeth
going downward.
4- palatine process of maxillary bone : posterior ()
All of these provides the irregular shape of maxilla
Note : the ear ossicles , its movable bone within the skull.

The mandible : it has a horizontal (U) shaped body , and from the
body we have two vertical branches we called them rami (ramus) , the
junction between each ramus and the body we referred to it the Angle
 Note :
When we study facial
bone , we dont study them
of the mandible , its clinically important because we use it as a
separately , we study them
landmark. with regional description
We have 4 processes in the mandible :
mandibular notch : between the coronoid & condylar
coronoid process : like a crown.
condylar process head and neck : it has a condyle (smooth round
surface), to make a joint
lingula ( &)mand. Foramen : which gives attachment to
the sphenomandibular ligament

Note :
The maxillary are two
bones , left and right ,
together will form the
maxilla of the upper jaw
We have two openings in the mandible :
1-Mandibular foramen (in the ramus) : Deep to the lingual , protected by
lingual , its very important because the mandibular nerve it passing from it.
2- Mental foramen (in the body of mandible) : at the chin area , mental area ,
where the mandibular nerve can give a branch to supply the skin in the
mental region.