Anterior cranial fossa

Anterior cranial fossa
Superior view of the skull base. Anterior cranial fossa shown in green. 1: Sphenoidal limbus (anterior margin of the chiasmatic groove) 2: Posterior borders of the lesser wings of the sphenoid
Base of skull. Superior view. Boundaries of the cranial fossae drawn as red lines.
Details
Identifiers
Latin	fossa cranii anterior
MeSH	D035262
TA98	A02.1.00.048
TA2	451
FMA	9682
Anatomical terminology [edit on Wikidata ]

The anterior cranial fossa is a depression in the floor of the cranial base which houses the projecting

Its lateral portions roof in the orbital cavities and support the frontal lobes of the cerebrum; they are convex and marked by depressions for the brain convolutions, and grooves for branches of the meningeal vessels.

The central portion corresponds with the roof of the nasal cavity, and is markedly depressed on either side of the crista galli.

It presents, in and near the median line, from before backward, the commencement of the frontal crest for the attachment of the

Lateral to either olfactory groove are the internal openings of the anterior and posterior ethmoidal foramina; the anterior, situated about the middle of the lateral margin of the olfactory groove, transmits the anterior ethmoidal vessels and the nasociliary nerve; the nerve runs in a groove along the lateral edge of the cribriform plate to the slit-like opening above mentioned; the posterior ethmoidal foramen opens at the back part of this margin under cover of the projecting lamina of the sphenoid, and transmits the posterior ethmoidal vessels and nerve.

Farther back in the middle line is the

Behind this is the anterior margin of the chiasmatic groove, running laterally on either side to the upper margin of the optic foramen.

Content

The anterior cranial fossa contains the following parts of the brain:

• frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex,
• olfactory bulb,
• olfactory tract,
• orbital gyri.^[1]

Openings

There are several openings connecting the anterior cranial fossa with other parts of the skull, and these are the following:

• anterior ethmoidal foramen,
• cribriform foramina.

The paired anterior ethmoidal foramen connects the anterior cranial fossa with each orbit and transmits the anterior ethmoidal artery, nerve and vein.

The cribriform foramina are the openings in the cribriform plate of the ethmoid bone, which connect the anterior cranial fossa with the nasal cavity and transmit the olfactory nerves.^[2]

Additional images

• 
  Animation. Anterior cranial fossa shown in green.
• 
  Photo. Base of skull. Superior view.
• 
  Close-up photo.

  Lesser wings

  of the sphenoid colored in yellow.

See also

• Middle cranial fossa
• Posterior cranial fossa

References

This article incorporates text in the public domain from page 190 of the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Anterior cranial fossa.

• Anatomy photo:22:os-0801 at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center