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Embryo
An embryo ( ) is the initial stage of development for a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male sperm cell. The resulting fusion of these two cells produces a single-celled zygote that undergoes many cell divisions that produce cells known as blastomeres. The blastomeres (4-cell stage) are arranged as a solid ball that when reaching a certain size, called a morula, (16-cell stage) takes in fluid to create a cavity called a blastocoel. The structure is then termed a blastula, or a blastocyst in mammals. The mammalian blastocyst hatches before implantating into the endometrial lining of the womb. Once implanted the embryo will continue its development through the next stages of gastrulation, neurulation, and organogenesis. Gastrulation is the formation of the three germ layers that will form all of the different parts of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Human Embryonic Development
Human embryonic development or human embryogenesis is the development and formation of the human embryo. It is characterised by the processes of cell division and cellular differentiation of the embryo that occurs during the early stages of development. In biological terms, the development of the human body entails growth from a one-celled zygote to an adult human being. Fertilization occurs when the sperm cell successfully enters and fuses with an egg cell (ovum). The genetic material of the sperm and egg then combine to form the single cell zygote and the germinal stage of development commences. Human embryonic development covers the first eight weeks of development, which have 23 stages, called Carnegie stages. At the beginning of the ninth week, the embryo is termed a fetus (spelled "foetus" in British English). In comparison to the embryo, the fetus has more recognizable external features and a more complete set of developing organs. Human embryology is the study o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gastrulation
Gastrulation is the stage in the early embryonic development of most animals, during which the blastula (a single-layered hollow sphere of cells), or in mammals, the blastocyst, is reorganized into a two-layered or three-layered embryo known as the gastrula. Before gastrulation, the embryo is a continuous epithelial sheet of cells; by the end of gastrulation, the embryo has begun differentiation to establish distinct cell lineages, set up the basic axes of the body (e.g. dorsal–ventral, anterior–posterior), and internalized one or more cell types, including the prospective gut. Gastrula layers In triploblastic organisms, the gastrula is trilaminar (three-layered). These three germ layers are the ectoderm (outer layer), mesoderm (middle layer), and endoderm (inner layer).Mundlos 2009p. 422/ref>McGeady, 2004: p. 34 In diploblastic organisms, such as Cnidaria and Ctenophora, the gastrula has only ectoderm and endoderm. The two layers are also sometimes referred to as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Implantation (embryology)
Implantation, also known as nidation, is the stage in the mammalian embryonic development in which the blastocyst hatches, attaches, adheres, and penetrates into the endometrium of the female's uterus. Implantation is the first stage of gestation, and, when successful, the female is considered to be pregnant. An implanted embryo is detected by the presence of increased levels of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in a pregnancy test. The implanted embryo will receive oxygen and nutrients in order to grow. For implantation to take place the uterus must become receptive. Uterine receptivity involves much cross-talk between the embryo and the uterus, initiating changes to the endometrium. This stage gives a synchrony that opens a window of implantation that enables successful implantation of a viable embryo. The endocannabinoid system plays a vital role in this synchrony in the uterus, influencing uterine receptivity, and embryo implantation. The embryo expresses cannabinoid r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neurulation
Neurulation refers to the folding process in vertebrate embryos, which includes the transformation of the neural plate into the neural tube. The embryo at this stage is termed the neurula. The process begins when the notochord induces the formation of the central nervous system (CNS) by signaling the ectoderm germ layer above it to form the thick and flat neural plate. The neural plate folds in upon itself to form the neural tube, which will later differentiate into the spinal cord and the brain, eventually forming the central nervous system. Computer simulations found that cell wedging and differential proliferation are sufficient for mammalian neurulation. Different portions of the neural tube form by two different processes, called primary and secondary neurulation, in different species. * In primary neurulation, the neural plate creases inward until the edges come in contact and fuse. * In secondary neurulation, the tube forms by hollowing out of the interior of a solid precur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blastocyst
The blastocyst is a structure formed in the early embryonic development of mammals. It possesses an inner cell mass (ICM) also known as the ''embryoblast'' which subsequently forms the embryo, and an outer layer of trophoblast cells called the trophectoderm. This layer surrounds the inner cell mass and a fluid-filled cavity or lumen known as the blastocoel. In the late blastocyst, the trophectoderm is known as the trophoblast. The trophoblast gives rise to the chorion and amnion, the two fetal membranes that surround the embryo. The placenta derives from the embryonic chorion (the portion of the chorion that develops villi) and the underlying uterine tissue of the mother. The corresponding structure in non-mammalian animals is an undifferentiated ball of cells called the blastula. In humans, blastocyst formation begins about five days after fertilization when a fluid-filled cavity opens up in the morula, the early embryonic stage of a ball of 16 cells. The blastocyst ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Embryonic Development
In developmental biology, animal embryonic development, also known as animal embryogenesis, is the developmental stage of an animal embryo. Embryonic development starts with the fertilization of an egg cell (ovum) by a sperm, sperm cell (spermatozoon). Once fertilized, the ovum becomes a single diploid cell known as a zygote. The zygote undergoes mitosis, mitotic cell division, divisions with no significant growth (a process known as cleavage (embryo), cleavage) and cellular differentiation, leading to development of a multicellular embryo after passing through an organizational checkpoint during mid-embryogenesis. In mammals, the term refers chiefly to the early stages of prenatal development, whereas the terms fetus and fetal development describe later stages. The main stages of animal embryonic development are as follows: * The zygote undergoes a series of cell divisions (called cleavage) to form a structure called a morula. * The morula develops into a structure called a bla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blastomere
In biology, a blastomere is a type of cell produced by cell division (cleavage) of the zygote after fertilization; blastomeres are an essential part of blastula formation, and blastocyst formation in mammals. Human blastomere characteristics In humans, blastomere formation begins immediately following fertilization and continues through the first week of embryonic development. About 90 minutes after fertilization, the zygote divides into two cells. The two-cell blastomere state, present after the zygote first divides, is considered the earliest mitotic product of the fertilized oocyte. These mitosis, mitotic divisions continue and result in a grouping of cells called blastomeres. During this process, the total size of the embryo does not increase, so each division results in smaller and smaller cells. When the zygote contains 16 to 32 blastomeres it is referred to as a morula. These are the preliminary stages in the embryo beginning to form. Once this begins, microtubules wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blastula
Blastulation is the stage in early animal embryonic development that produces the blastula. In mammalian development, the blastula develops into the blastocyst with a differentiated inner cell mass and an outer trophectoderm. The blastula (from Greek '' βλαστός'' ( meaning ''sprout'')) is a hollow sphere of cells known as blastomeres surrounding an inner fluid-filled cavity called the blastocoel. Embryonic development begins with a sperm fertilizing an egg cell to become a zygote, which undergoes many cleavages to develop into a ball of cells called a morula. Only when the blastocoel is formed does the early embryo become a blastula. The blastula precedes the formation of the gastrula in which the germ layers of the embryo form. A common feature of a vertebrate blastula is that it consists of a layer of blastomeres, known as the blastoderm, which surrounds the blastocoel. In mammals, the blastocyst contains an embryoblast (or inner cell mass) that will eventuall ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Germ Layer
A germ layer is a primary layer of cell (biology), cells that forms during embryonic development. The three germ layers in vertebrates are particularly pronounced; however, all eumetazoans (animals that are sister taxa to the sponges) produce two or three primary germ layers. Some animals, like cnidarians, produce two germ layers (the ectoderm and endoderm) making them diploblastic. Other animals such as bilaterians produce a third layer (the mesoderm) between these two layers, making them triploblastic. Germ layers eventually give rise to all of an animal's Tissue (biology), tissues and organ (anatomy), organs through the process of organogenesis. History Caspar Friedrich Wolff observed organization of the early embryo in leaf-like layers. In 1817, Heinz Christian Pander discovered three primordial germ layers while studying chick embryos. Between 1850 and 1855, Robert Remak had further refined the germ cell layer (''Keimblatt'') concept, stating that the external, internal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Organogenesis
Organogenesis is the phase of embryonic development that starts at the end of gastrulation and continues until birth. During organogenesis, the three germ layers formed from gastrulation (the ectoderm, endoderm, and mesoderm) form the internal organs of the organism. The cells of each of the three germ layers undergo differentiation, a process where less-specialized cells become more-specialized through the expression of a specific set of genes. Cell differentiation is driven by cell signaling cascades. Differentiation is influenced by extracellular signals such as growth factors that are exchanged to adjacent cells which is called juxtracrine signaling or to neighboring cells over short distances which is called paracrine signaling. Intracellular signals – a cell signaling itself ( autocrine signaling) – also play a role in organ formation. These signaling pathways allow for cell rearrangement and ensure that organs form at specific sites within the organism. The organogen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cleavage (embryo)
In embryology, cleavage is the division of cells in the early development of the embryo, following fertilization. The zygotes of many species undergo rapid cell cycles with no significant overall growth, producing a cluster of cells the same size as the original zygote. The different cells derived from cleavage are called blastomeres and form a compact mass called the morula. Cleavage ends with the formation of the blastula, or of the blastocyst in mammals. Depending mostly on the concentration of yolk in the egg, the cleavage can be holoblastic (total or complete cleavage) or meroblastic (partial or incomplete cleavage). The pole of the egg with the highest concentration of yolk is referred to as the vegetal pole while the opposite is referred to as the animal pole. Cleavage differs from other forms of cell division in that it increases the number of cells and nuclear mass without increasing the cytoplasmic mass. This means that with each successive subdivision, there ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
