Histological investigations on the dura mater vascular system of mice

The human dura mater encephali is a well innervated and vascularized membrane. Its vascular system plays a crucial role in disorders and pathological cases like dural hematoma, meningitis, and different headache types. To investigate these diseases mouse models are increasingly being used. However, the literature on the vascular system of the mouse dura mater is sparse and explicit studies concerned exclusively with its vasculature are lacking. Here we present a detailed light and scanning electron microscopic investigation of the supratentorial dura mater of the mouse species, with a focus on the largest part of it, the parietal dura mater. By utilizing different immunohistochemical and classical staining methods, a "cartography" of the vascular system was achieved. Additionally, the different blood vessel types with their mural cells were characterized. In contrast to humans, no arteries were found in the mouse parietal dura mater. Its supply is assured through frontolateral and occipital localized arteriolar branches. These arteriolar vessels exhibit in some specimens arteriolar anastomoses with one another. The venous blood is drained to the superior sagittal and transverse sinus through satellite venules accompanying the arterioles or through solitary venules. In all samples, large ruptured venules were identified in the frontolateral dural area. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that these vessels were ruptured on the dorsal side (skull bones-oriented side) of the dura. Our results contribute to the anatomical data on the mouse species and may set up a basis for fundamental investigation of disorders, for which the role of dural blood vessels is not yet clarified.