Innervation of the cerebral dura mater

Abstract

The trigemino-cardiac reflex during Onyx embolization for dural arteriovenous fistula may be caused by mechanical or chemical stimulus to the terminals of the unencapsulated Ruffini-like receptors stemming from A-axons in the dural connective tissue at sites of dural arteries and sinuses. Slow A (Aδ) and fast A (Aβ) neurons may play a role in the stimulus afferent pathway due to their higher mechanosensitivity and chemosensitivity. These afferent pathway nerves are cholinergic innervations of the dura mater, which also contains vasoactive neuropeptides such as calcitonin gene-related peptide, substance P, and neurokinin A. Stimulation of meningeal sensory fibres can evoke cerebral vasodilation through the peripheral release of neuropeptides, which play a role in headache pathogenesis. These myelinated A-fibers terminate in the deep part (laminae III-V) of the spinal dorsal horn. Its efferent pathway has been defined as the acetylcholinergic vagus nerve. The A11 nucleus, located in the posterior hypothalamus, providing the only known source of descending dopaminergic innervation for the spinal grey matter, can inhibit the neurons in the spinal dorsal horn.

Keywords: cerebral dura mater; nerve fibers; nociception; sensory receptors.