OVERVIEW OF GENERAL

EMBRYOLOGY
• There are three stages of prenatal
development:
the germinal, embryonic, and fetal stages.
I. The germinal stage The first two weeks after
conception
II. The embryonic period the third through the
eighth week
III. The fetal period the time from the ninth week
until birth.
 1 week events
st

1. Fertilization
2. Cleavage of zygot
3. Implantation
Summary of the first week showing development
Weeks 1 of Development
• begins when a sperm fertilizes an oocyte
resulting in the formation of a zygote
• The zygote undergoes cleavage, a series of
mitotic divisions, as it moves along the
uterine tube toward the
uterus(blastomeres)
• Morula stage(12-16 cell), which enters the
uterus about three days after fertilization
• A fluid-filled space called the blastocyst
cavity or blastocele, develops within the
morula
 implantation
The syncytiotrophoblast
invades endometrial
connective tissue and
erodes capillaries. Erosion
of endometrial blood
vessels causes maternal
blood to flow into cavities,
or lacunae, within the
syncytiotrophoblast
This blood flow represents
a primitive circulation (the
uteroplacental circulation)
 2 week events
nd

1. Bilaminar embryonic disc

2. Etra embryonic mesoderm
3. chorion
• Two important events occur in the blastocyst
at the end of the first week and beginning of
the second week after fertilization.
– First, the blastocyst adheres to the surface of the
endometrium and implantation begins.
– Second, the inner cell mass forms a bilaminar disk,
and, consequently, the second week of
development is sometimes called the bilaminar
disk stage.

• The trophoblast differentiates into two layersan

outer multinucleated cellular syncytium called the
syncytiotrophoblast and an inner cytotrophoblast
Inner cell mass
differentiation into a two-
layered, or bilaminar disc

The EMBRYOBLAST
differentiates into two
layers:
1- the EPIBLAST
2- the HYPOBLAST
Blastocyst is now
called
“Chorionic vesicle”
• Soon, large cavities develop in the extraembryonic
mesoderm, and when these become confluent, they
form a new space known as THE EXTRAEMBRYONIC
COELOM, or CHORIONIC CAVITY
 3 week events
rd

1. Gastrulation
2. Nurulation
3. Folding of embryonic disc
 Gastrulation
• the bilaminar embryonic disk is converted into
a trilaminar disk.
• formation of the primitive streak This
structure is a narrow trough with slightly
bulging sides that develops in the midline of
the epiblast toward the caudal end.
• The primitive pit surrounded by the elevated
primitive node is located at the cranial end of
the primitive streak.
• cells of the epiblast migrate to the primitive streak and
primitive node, detach from the epiblast, and grow beneath the
epiblast-a process -- called invagination
• After the cells have invaginated, some cells displace the
hypoblast to form the embryonic endoderm.
• Other cells position themselves between the endoderm and
epiblast to form a third germ cell layer, the embryonic
mesoderm.
• The remaining cells in the epiblast produce the ectoderm.
• The epiblast, therefore, forms all three embryonic germ layers:
the ectoderm, the endoderm, and the mesoderm.‘
• )
 Notochord development
• Early in the third week, cells invaginating in the primitive pit and node
region grow cranially until they reach the prochordal plate.
• They produce a cellular rod, the notochordal process, that runs
longitudinally in the midline
• The primitive pit extends into the notochordal process to form a small
central notochordal canal
• The canal eventually disappears, leaving a solid cylinder of cells, the
notochord.
• The notochord represents the early midline axis of the embryo, and
the axial skeleton forms around it.
• By the end of the third week the mesoderm separates the ectoderm
and endoderm everywhere in the embryonic disk, except for the
cloacal membrane in the caudal region and the prochordal plate at the
cranial midline area of the embryo
• In these two regions the endoderm and ectoderm are tightly adherent.
The prochordal plate is the future region of the buccopharyngeal
In summary
– Primitive node and
primitive pit
– Notochordal
process
– Notochordal canal
– Notochordal
endodermal plate
– Neurenteric canal
– Notochordal plate
folds
– Definitive
notochord
The notochord represents the
early midline axis of the
embryo, and the axial skeleton
forms around it.
 Neurulation
• Formation of neural tube
• the notochord induces the overlying ectoderm to thicken
and differentiate into the neural plate
• The neural plate grows caudally toward the primitive
streak.
• The lateral edges of the neural plate become elevated to
form the neural folds.
• A depressed groove called the neural groove forms
between the neural folds
• The neural folds approach each other and fuse in the
midline to form the neural tube.