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A. Morula and B. cross section of a blastula displaying the blastocoel and blastoderm of early animal embryonic development. Blastulation is the stage in early animal embryonic development that produces the blastula. In mammalian development, the blastula develops into the blastocyst with a differentiated inner cell mass and an outer trophectoderm.
The blastula is usually a spherical layer of cells (the blastoderm) surrounding a fluid-filled or yolk-filled cavity the blastocoel. [citation needed] Mammals at this stage form a structure called the blastocyst, characterized by an inner cell mass that is distinct from the surrounding blastula.
The blastocyst stage occurs between 5 and 9 days after conception. During embryonic development, after fertilization (approximately 5–6 days in the human), the cells of the morula begin to undergo cell differentiation, and the morula changes into the blastocyst by pumping fluid to grow a lumen.
The blastocoel further expands and the inner cell mass becomes positioned on one side of the trophoblast cells forming a mammalian blastula, called a blastocyst. The axis formed by the inner cell mass and the blastocoel is the first axis of symmetry of mammalian embryo and determines its attachment point to the uterus.
The structure is then termed a blastula, or a blastocyst in mammals. The mammalian blastocyst hatches before implantating into the endometrial lining of the womb. Once implanted the embryo will continue its development through the next stages of gastrulation, neurulation, and organogenesis.
The difference between a mammalian embryo and an embryo of a lower chordate animal is evident starting from blastula stage. Due to that fact, the developing mammalian embryo at this stage is called a blastocyst, not a blastula, which is more generic term. There are also several other differences from embryogenesis in lower chordates.
The division of blastomeres from the zygote allows a single fertile cell to continue to cleave and differentiate until a blastocyst forms. The differentiation of the blastomere allows for the development of two distinct cell populations: the inner cell mass, which becomes the precursor to the embryo, and the trophectoderm, which becomes the precursor to the placenta.
Gastrulation is the stage in the early embryonic development of most animals, during which the blastula (a single-layered hollow sphere of cells), or in mammals the blastocyst, is reorganized into a two-layered or three-layered embryo known as the gastrula. [1]