Animal Reproduction and

Development:
Stages of Development
Instructor: Ma. Christine E. Ibay

Department of Biological Sciences

College of Arts and Sciences
Visayas State University
Visca, Baybay City, Leyte, Philippines
Learning Objectives

1.Describe the different stages of animal

development

2.Explain processes in human development

Growth – change
in size over time

Development –
differentiation

External
fertilization –
fertilization
occurs outside the
body
Stages in early animal development

1. Fertilization – the process of a single sperm cell combining with single egg
cell to form a zygote

2. Cleavage – rapid, multiple rounds of mitotic cell division where the overall
size of the embryo does not increase (blastula)

3. Gastrulation – the movement of cells in the blastula to create the

embryonic tissue layers

4. Organogenesis – the process of organ and tissue formation via cell division
and differentiation
 FERTILIZATI
ON
Egg cell (largest egg) approx. 16
Vitalline envelope

times larger than the sperm cell.

Eggs contains varying amounts of

yolk, nutrients to support the
developing embryo.

Jelly layer composed of

glycoprotein that releases species-
specific chemoattractants that
guides sperm to the egg.

Vitalline envelope, separates the

egg to the zona pellucida. Generalized mammalian egg cell. By Mia Nicolacoudis – Own work, CC BY 4.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=69615546

Resources and image retrieved from: https://organismalbio.biosci.gatech.edu/growth-and-reproduction/animal-development-i/

 FERTILIZATI
ON

By OpenStax College – Anatomy & Physiology, Connexions Web site. http://cnx.org/content/col11496/1.6/, Jun 19, 2013., CC
BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30132983

The sperm consists of: head, tail and mitochondria.

The plasma membrane contains bindin which are species-specific proteins

that recognize and bind to receptors in the egg’s plasma membrane.

Acrosome, contains digestive enzymes that will degrade the zona pellucida.

Resources and image retrieved from: https://organismalbio.biosci.gatech.edu/growth-and-reproduction/animal-development-i/

 o Sperm is attracted to and contacts
zona pellucida.
o Acrosome reaction.
o Sperm and egg plasma membrane
fuses mediated by bindin.
o Fusion of sperm and egg membranes
initiates electrical depolarization to
avoid polyspermy.
o Cortical reaction lifts the vitelline
layer to create fertilization envelope.
o These events culminate in egg
activation, causing the egg to
recognize that fertilization has
occurred and resulting in initiation of
By LadyofHats. – I made this diagram myself using the diagrams on: [1] , [2],and [3]. I used
Adobe Illustrator to do it including pgf data, and I am freeing it into public domain.
development.
LadyofHats., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=696998

Resources and image retrieved from: https://organismalbio.biosci.gatech.edu/growth-and-reproduction/animal-development-i/

 CLEAVAGE
Cleavage – rapid cell division.

After the cleavage has produced over

100 blastomeres, the embryo is called blastomeres
blastula.

The blastula is usually a spherical layer

of blastomeres that are considered to be
the first embryonic tissue, blastula
the blastoderm.

Blastocoel is essential for gastrulation.

Resources and image retrieved from: https://organismalbio.biosci.gatech.edu/growth-and-reproduction/animal-development-i/

 CLEAVAGE

Forms
embryonic
portion of
placenta.

It will go onto
form the
embryo.

Resources and image retrieved from: https://organismalbio.biosci.gatech.edu/growth-and-reproduction/animal-development-i/

GASTRULATI
ON
The cells in the blastula rearrange themselves spatially to form three layers of cells
(germ layers).

Animals with two germ layers are called diploblastic while those with three layers are
called triploblastic.

Image retrieved from: https://openstax.org/books/biology/pages/43-6-fertilization-and-early-embryonic-development

GASTRULATI
ONlist summarizes the different derivatives of the germ layers in
The following
triploblastic vertebrate animals, following Starr et al. (2019):

1. Ectoderm: gives rise to the epidermis (outer layer of the skin) and nervous tissues;
2. Mesoderm: gives rise to the underlying connective tissue of the skin, muscle tissues,
cartilage, blood vessels, urinary system, peritoneum (body cavity lining), gut organs,
and the reproductive tract’
3. Endoderm: gives rise to the lining of the gut, respiratory tract, and organs derived
from these linings.

Image retrieved from: https://openstax.org/books/biology/pages/43-6-fertilization-and-early-embryonic-development

ORGANOGENE
SIS

Accdg to Raven et al. (2017) organogenesis follows rapidly right after

gastrulation but in most animals, it begins even before gastrulation is
complete.

Organs form from the germ layers through the process of

differentiation.

During differentiation, the embryonic stem cells express specific sets

of genes which will determine their ultimate cell type.
Human Developmental Stages

Fertilization  Zygote  Cleavage 

Blastula  Gastrulation  Germ Layers 
Organ Systems

This differentiation starts about six days

after fertilization and is also observed in
other mammals like mice (Urry et al., 2017).
Human Developmental Stages
1. Blastocyst reaches the uterus.
Inner mass cells are sources of
embryonic stem cell lines
(pluripotent).

2. Blastocyst implants.
7 days after fertilization.
Implantation of the embryo, which
is initiated by the trophoblast.
Along with the implantation,
epiblast (inner layer of cells) and
hypoblast (outer layer of cells) are
formed.
Human Developmental Stages
3. Extraembryonic membranes start to
form (10-11 days) and gastrulation
begins (13 days).
The completion of the implantation
process is followed by gastrulation.
Moreover, some of the epiblast cells
remain as ectoderm while others form
mesoderm and endoderm.

4. End of gastrulation. The cells of the

extending trophoblast including the
epiblast and the endometrial tissue
contributed to the formation of the
placenta.
According to Starr et al. (2019),
it takes about 5-10 trillion of
mitotic divisions to go from
zygote to an adult human.

At fetal development, the

organs mature and already begin
to function.

In addition, the last organ to

mature is the brain. It continues
to develop until the age of 19-
22 years old (Starr et al., 2019).