Chick – Study of Whole Mounts of developmental stages of Chick

through permanent slides

(Hamburger Hamilton (HH) stages)- 13 hrs, 18hrs, 24hrs, 28hrs,
33hrs, 36hrs, 48hrs, 72hrs and 96hrs.
 Hamburger Hamilton (HH) stages

In developmental biology, the Hamburger–Hamilton stages (HH) are a series of 46

chronological stages in chick development, starting from laying of the egg and ending
with a newly hatched chick. It is named after its creators, Viktor Hamburger and
Howard L. Hamilton.
 Chick Embro Development

• Fertilization
 Internal fertilization occurs within oviduct
 Egg structure: cleidoic (shell present), shell membrane, albumen, ovum (polylecithal,
macrolecithal and telolecithal)
• Cleavage (within oviduct)
 Begins 3 hrs after fertilization
 occurs in blastodisc
 discoidal and meroblastic cleavage
 multilayered blastoderm is formed
• Blastulation (within oviduct)
 Formation of subgerminal cavity (equivalent to blastocoel)
 Area pellucida (translucent, one cell layer thick) and area opaca (opaque, multiple cell
layers) are created and in between is marginal zone
• Gastrulation (upto early stages occurs within
oviduct before egg is laid)
 Epiblast is formed by most of the cells of area
pellucida
 Koller’s sickle, a local thickening of epiblast
formed at posterior edge of area pellucida
 Primary hypoblast is formed by anterior cells of
epiblast in the form of ypoblas islands that joins
cells growing anteriorly from Koller’s sickle to form
secondary hypoblast or endoblast
 Subgerminal cavity give rise to Blastocoel-like
cavity between epiblast and hypoblast, and inner
archenteron or primitive gut below hypoblast
 In future, epiblast will form embryo proper, and
extraembryonic membranes and hypoblast will form
yolk sac and its stalk connected to gut
 Primitive streak is formed (equivalent to
blastopore): cells arising from Koller’s
sickle and epiblast above it converge to
form primitive streak at mid-posterior end of
area pellucida
 The streak elongates anteriorly
 Primitive groove (depression within the
streak), Hensen’s node and primitive pit are
formed
 Formation of mesoderm and endoderm
 Mesoderm extends anteriorly except in the region of proamnion
 Primitive streak gradually decreases in size and notochord length increases
 Neurogenesis occurs i.e., formation of neural plate followed by neural groove and
neural folds that joins to form neural tube with anterior opening neuropore which closes
in some time. Thereafter, anterior end of neural tube enlanges to form fore brain, mid
brain and hind brain
 Formation of somites starts around 20 hrs incubation. They form from paraxial
mesoderm. Somites give rise to the cells that form the vertebrae and ribs, the dermis of
the dorsal skin, the skeletal muscles of the back, and the skeletal muscles of the body
wall and limbs.
 In parallel, gut development and blood vasculature development occurs
 Formation of splanchnocoel formed by splitting of lateral plate mesoderm
 Torsion causing embryo to lie on left side on yolk sac
 Organogeny especially to mention formation of gills and gill slits supported by
visceral arches. In addition formation of heart, optic and otic apparatus
Formation of extraembryonic membranes