Cerebellum

The veins drain in unique ways in the brain. Instead of having veins that pair up with their corresponding arteries, there are instead venous sinuses that collect blood from the brain directly. These then pass the blood out of the cranium through the internal jugular veins. There are smaller sinuses that drain into large superior and inferior sagittal sinuses that drain the cerebrum plus cavernous sinuses that drain the anterior part of the base of the skull. The sigmoid sinuses are the final sinuses that leave the skull in order to form the jugular veins. All blood from the brain drains via these paired jugular veins.

CEREBELLUM

The cerebellum or “little brain” looks similar to the cerebrum in that it does not have a smooth surface structure. It is a major center for motor control in the body because it controls things like movement precision and timing, motor learning skills, proprioception, and coordination. As you will learn in a later chapter, the cerebellum is derived from the upper or superior part of the hindbrain during embryonic development.

You can find the cerebellum in the back of the cranium just below the temporal and occipital lobes, cradled upon the posterior cranial fossa. There is a dura mater layer called the tentorium cerebelli that separates the cerebral lobes from the cerebellum itself. It is also situated just behind the pons and is separated from the pons by the fourth ventricle.

There are two hemispheres in the cerebellum that are connected in the midline by a structure called the vermis. The gray matter is on the surface and the white matter is deep to that surface. There are cerebellar nuclei within the while matter, called the fastigial, globose, emboliform, and dentate nuclei.

Nuclei in the cerebellum and elsewhere in the brain are what clusters of related nerve cell bodies are called. They are called ganglia if they exist outside of the brain. If something is called a nucleus, it usually means that there are nerve cell bodies located there that perform a specific function. These nuclei receive excitatory and inhibitory