DEVELOPMENT OF THE FOREBRAIN

CON’T
 Development of the forebrian begins in the 4th week when the
nueral plates and tubes are developing from the nueroendoderm.
 The part of the nueral tube that develops into the brain is cranial
to the 4th somites.
 development arises as a result of formation of vesicles which are
bulge-like structures of the early developement of neural tube.
 The forebrain is developed from the prosencephalon.
CON’T
 The first vesicle to develop is the three(3)
primary vesicle comprising of the forebrain,
midbrain and hindbrain. These develop as a
result of fusion of the nueral folds in the
cranialregion and closure of the neuropores.
 Three primary vesicles differentiate into five
secondary vesicles each giving rise to an adult
derivative, the formation of the five sencondary
vesicles occurs at about 5 weeks.
 The rostral (anterior) part of the forebrian
including cerebral hemisphere is called the
telencephalon while the caudal (posterior) part
is called the diecephalon. cavities of
diecephalon and telecephalon both contribute to
the formation of the third ventricle; cavity of
diecephalon contributes more.
Primary vesicles - Secondary vesicles
CON’T
DIENCEPHALON
 Three swellings develop in the lateral walls of the third ventricle, these later become the thalamus,
hypothalamus and epithalamus.
 The thalamus is separated from the epithalamus by the epithalamic sulcus and from hypothalamus by
hypothalamic sulcus.
 The thalamus develops rapidly on each side of the third ventricle and bulges into its cavity. The thalami
meet and fuse in the midline in approximately 70% of brains, forming a bridge of gray matter across the
third ventricle—the interthalamic adhesion.
 Hypothalamus; is formed by proliferation of neuroblastd leading to formation of a number of nuclei that
controls endocrine and homeostatic activities. Mammillary bodies, these are pairs of pea-shaped nuclei
forms swelling on the ventral part of the hypothalamus
 epithalamus; is a dorsal posterior segment of diencephalon, which includes the habenula and their
interconnecting fibers, habenular commissures, stria medullaris and pineal body. its main function is
secretion of melatonin by pineal glands.
CON’T
DEVELOPMENT OF THE PITUITARY GLANDS
 It is ectodermal in origin and develops from two sources i.e hypophysial diverticulum from
the roof of stomodeum(oral ectoderm) and the neurohypophysial diverticulum from the floor
of diencephalon(neuroectoderm).
 In the third week, the hypophysial diverticulum/ rathke’s pouch projects from the roof of the
stomodeum and lies adjacent to the floor of the diecephalon.
 In the 5th week, the stalk of rathke’s pouch becomes constricted as it comes into contact with
the infudibulum/ neurohypophysial diverticulum.
 In the 6th week, the connection between rathke’s pouch and the stomodeum degenerates.
The anterior wall of rathke’s pouch proliferates and this gives rise to pars anterior of the
pituitary gland. An extension of rathke’s pouch grows around the infudibulum stalk and it
gives rise to the pars tuberalis. The cells of the posterior wall don’t proliferate, and this wall
gives rise to pars intermedia.
 The infundibulum gives rise to median eminence, infudibular stem, and pars Nervosa.
The distal end of the infudibulum is thick due to proliferation of neuroepithelial cells, and
these cells give rise to primary cells of the posterior pituitary gland called pituicytes.
CON’T
 Pituicytes, are specialized astrocytes, are the main glial cells of the neaural lobe. They assist
in storage and release of hormones of the posterior pituitary e.g vasopressin and oxytocin.