PRENATAL

DEVELOPMENT
PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT
•GESTATION - Period of development between conception and birth.

•GESTATIONAL AGE - Age of an unborn baby, usually dated from the first day of
an expectant mother’s last menstrual cycle.
STAGES OF PRENATAL
DEVELOPMENT
BOTH BEFORE AND AFTER BIRTH,
DEVELOPMENT PROCEEDS ACCORDING TO
TWO FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES
 STAGES OF PRENATAL
DEVELOPMENT
•CEPHALOCAUDAL PRINCIPLE - from Latin, meaning “HEAD TO TAIL,”
dictates that development proceeds from the head to the lower part of the trunk.
•An embryo’s head, brain, and eyes develop earliest and are disproportionately large
until the other parts catch up.
STAGES OF PRENATAL
DEVELOPMENT
•PROXIMODISTAL PRINCIPLE - from Latin, meaning “near to far,” development
proceeds from parts near the center of the body to outer ones.
•The embryo’s head and trunk develop before the limbs, and the arms and legs before
the fingers and toes.
STAGES OF PRENATAL
Fertilization to 2
DEVELOPMENT: Weeks
GERMINAL STAGE
 GERMINAL STAGE
(FERTILIZATION TO 2 WEEKS)
•First 2 weeks of prenatal development, characterized by rapid cell division, blastocyst
formation, and implantation in the wall of the uterus.
•Conception - occurs when sperm fertilizes an egg and forms a zygote.
•A ZYGOTE begins as a one-cell structure that is created when a sperm and egg
merge.
•During the first week after conception, the zygote divides and multiplies, going from a
one-cell structure to two cells, then four cells, then eight cells, and so on. This process
of cell division is called mitosis.
•After 5 days of mitosis there are 100 cells, and after 9 months there are billions of
cells. As the cells divide, they become more specialized, forming different organs and
body parts.
 IMPLANTATION
•IMPLANTATION - The attachment of the blastocyst to the uterine wall, occurring
at about day 6.
•BLASTOCYST - a fluid-filled sphere, which floats freely in the uterus until the
sixth day after fertilization, when it begins to implant itself in the uterine wall.

Trivia:
• Hatching
• The blastula sheds its zona pellucida. This is required for implantation to
occur. One function of the zona pellucida is to prevent premature implantation.
Limits direct interactions between the embryo and tubal cells
Other parts of the blastocyst begin to develop into organs that will nurture and protect
development in the womb: the amniotic cavity, or amniotic sac, with its outer layers, the
amnion and chorion; the placenta; and the umbilical cord.
The AMNIOTIC SAC is a fluid-filled membrane that encases the developing embryo,
protecting it and giving it room to move and grow.
The PLACENTA is allows oxygen, nourishment, and wastes to pass between mother and
embryo.
The placenta also helps to combat internal infection and gives the unborn child
immunity to various diseases. It produces the hormones that support pregnancy, prepare
the mother’s breasts for lactation, and eventually stimulate the uterine contractions that will
expel the baby from the mother’s body.
UMBILICAL CORD - the nutrients from the mother pass from her blood to the embryonic
blood vessels, carry them, via the umbilical cord, to the embryo.
STAGES OF PRENATAL 2 to 8
DEVELOPMENT:
EMBRYONIC STAGE Weeks
EMBRYONIC STAGE
•From about 2 to 8 weeks, the organs and
major body systems—respiratory, digestive,
and nervous—develop rapidly. This process
is known as ORGANOGENESIS.
•This is a critical period, when the embryo is
most vulnerable to destructive influences in
the prenatal environment.
•The most severely defective embryos usually
do not survive beyond the first trimester, or
3-month period, of pregnancy.
•A SPONTANEOUS ABORTION,
commonly called a MISCARRIAGE, is the
expulsion from the uterus of an embryo or
fetus that is unable to survive outside the
womb.
 STAGES OF PRENATAL 8 Weeks to
DEVELOPMENT: FETAL
STAGE Birth
FETAL STAGE
•The appearance of the first bone cells at about 8
weeks signals the beginning of the FETAL STAGE,
the final stage of gestation.
•The fetus grows rapidly to about 20 times its previous
length, and organs and body systems become more
complex. Right up to birth, finishing touches such as
fingernails, toenails, and eyelids continue to develop.
•Fetuses are not passive passengers in their mothers’
wombs.
•The flexible membranes of the uterine walls and
amniotic sac, which surround the protective buffer
of amniotic fluid, permit and stimulate limited
movement, and after approximately 16 to 25
weeks of gestation, the movements are strong
enough for expectant mothers to detect them.
•ULTRASOUND - Prenatal medical
procedure using high-frequency sound
waves to detect the outline of a fetus and its
movements, so as to determine whether a
pregnancy is progressing normally.
•Beginning during the 8th week of
gestation, an estimated 250,000 immature
neurons.
•Most of the neurons in the higher areas of
the brain are in place by 20 weeks of
gestation, and the structure becomes
increasingly well defined during the next
12 weeks.
 PERCEPTUAL AND COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT IN FETUSES
•Both taste buds (taste) and olfactory receptors (smell) begin to form at about 8 weeks of
gestation.
• From about the 12th week of gestation, the fetus swallows and inhales some of the
amniotic fluid in which it floats.
•Because the amniotic fluid contains substances that cross the placenta from the
mother’s bloodstream, this influences the development of taste and smell.
•Exposure to strong flavors (e.g., garlic) repeatedly during pregnancy, as may happen if
pregnant women’s diets contain high levels of such foods, has been shown later to lead
to higher acceptance of them in children’s diets.
•Fetuses respond to the mother’s voice and heartbeat and the vibrations of her body,
suggesting they can hear and feel.
•Although fetuses, starting at approximately 33 weeks of gestation, orient toward and
attend to music speech is a stronger draw.
PERCEPTUAL AND COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT IN FETUSES
•Fetuses learn and remember as they near the end of the pregnancy.
•Current estimates suggest that fetal memory begins to function at approximately 30
weeks of gestational age, when fetuses are able to hold information in memory for 10
minutes.
•By 34 weeks, they are able to remember information for a period of 1 month (Dirix et
al., 2009).
•Moreover, fetuses not only remember and recognize voices, but they also have some
limited ability to reproduce them.