Embryology of the walls of the lateral sellar compartment: apropos of a continuous series of 39 embryos and fetuses representing the first six months of intra-uterine life

Abstract

The aim of this study was a continuous and rather exhaustive description of the embryological development of the lateral sellar compartment. The histological sections of 39 embryos and fetuses were studied, and represent the first six months of intra-uterine life. The embryological period showed the organization of the content of the compartment. The medial and lateral walls appeared during the 15th week of amenorrhoea, and did not modify later. The medial wall was constituted in its rostral part by the hypophyseal lodge and in its caudal part by the periosteum of the sphenoid bone. Two layers formed the lateral wall: the superficial layer was an expansion of the dura mater that surrounded the oculomotor nerves along their course to the superior orbital fissure; the deep layer was weaker, and surrounded and joined the nerves together. The results of this study advocate the evolution of the nomenclature of this region, as the term "inter-periosto-dural space" would better reflect the real pattern of the lateral sellar compartment. Furthermore, the presence of a communication between the two lateral sellar compartments has led to a discussion of the previous hypothesis about the development of the lateral sellar compartment. The venous network was located on both the medial and lateral sides of the internal carotid artery, but expanded in the lateral wall of the lateral sellar compartment. That is of interest to surgeons and radiologists because it could explain some hemorrhagic complications.

Dural Venous System in the Cavernous Sinus: A Literature Review and Embryological, Functional, and Endovascular Clinical Considerations

“…Therefore, the term “sphenoparietal sinus” may not be adequate to describe the dural continuation of the SMCV in this region. The LCS is the venous channel situated between the outer layer of the dura propria and the inner layer of loose connective tissue surrounding the cranial nerves 19 , 20) of the lateral wall of the CS. It was defined as one of the principal drainage pathways of the SMCV by Ruiz et al, 12) in 1999.…”

Cavernous sinus medial wall: dural or fibrous layer? Systematic review of the literature

“…The results of Yasuda et al [25], as well as those of Marinkovic et al [12] and Tobenas-Dujardin et al [23], considered that the medial wall of the CS is composed from meningeal dura in the sellar portion and from periosteum in the sphenoid portion.…”

“…2 An image of the pituitary gland which is taught to be contained within a dural layer that limits the CS medially Fig. 1 The cavernous sinus is located on either side of the sphenoid sinus, sella, and pituitary gland extending from the superior orbital fissure to the petrous ridge of the temporal bone identified a dural layer [12] forming the medial wall of the CS and separating the CS from the sella and pituitary capsule [14,25,26], or separating the CS directly from the pituitary gland [2,3,6,8,23,27] (Fig. 3).…”

“…The second group, which identified the medial wall of the CS as comprised of a dural layer, did not utilize MRI in their methodology. However, 61.5% prosecuted microscopic dissection [2,3,8,12,14,[25][26][27], and 38.5% used histological section with Masson's trichrome, hematoxylin and eosin, or hemalaun, eosin, and saffron [6,8,14,23,27]. In one study, the thickness of the pituitary capsule and the inferior and lateral pituitary fossae was measured, and the collagen structure from these layers was analyzed [14], while in another study, computer measurements of medial wall of the CS thickness were compared in the three different regions (posterior, middle, and anterior) and also on the left vs. the right sides [27].…”

Histology of the Porous Oculomotorius: Relevance to Anterior Skull Base Approaches

“…16 Specifically, the question of whether the cavernous sinus is bounded on both the lateral and medial sides by a true dural layer or whether the medial wall of the cavernous sinus is composed of a loose, fibrous tissue that is not true dura remains unresolved. 16 Moreover, despite multiple histologic analyses of the cavernous sinus region, [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] to the best of our knowledge a dedicated study of the histology of the cisternal to cavernous course of CNIII has not been previously performed.…”