ABSTRACT
The vascularization of the central nervous system (CNS) is an ascending and sequential process that accompanies and parallels the ascending anatomical and functional maturation of its various regional components. It starts at the myelencephalon and, sequentially, ascends through the metencephalon, mesencephalon, diencephalon and, lastly, the telencephalon (Klosovskii 1963, Strong 1964, Bär and Wolff 1972, Gamble 1975, Wolff et al. 1975). The participation of meningeal vascular components in CNS vascularization has been explored and described in a variety of studies (Mall 1904, Strong 1964, Pape and Wigglesworth 1979, Hauw et al. 1975, Nabeshina et al. 1975, Krahn 1982, Krisch et al. 1982, 1983, Marín-Padilla 1985, 1988, 2011). However, important aspects concerning the different meningeal vascular compartments and their composition, the penetration of pial capillaries into the cerebral cortex and their eventual intracerebral distribution remain inadequately studied and poorly understood. In this chapter we analyze these and other important developmental events concerning the human cerebral cortex microvascularization and the sequential evolution of its intracerebral extrinsic and intrinsic compartments.
