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In humans, blastocyst formation begins about five days after fertilization when a fluid-filled cavity opens up in the morula, the early embryonic stage of a ball of 16 cells. The blastocyst has a diameter of about 0.1–0.2 mm and comprises 100-200 cells following 7-8 rounds of cleavage (cell division without cell growth).
In biological terms, the development of the human body entails growth from a one-celled zygote to an adult human being. Fertilization occurs when the sperm cell successfully enters and fuses with an egg cell (ovum). The genetic material of the sperm and egg then combine to form the single cell zygote and the germinal stage of development commences.
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.
The zygote is the earliest developmental stage. In humans and most other anisogamous organisms, a zygote is formed when an egg cell and sperm cell come together to create a new unique organism. The formation of a totipotent zygote with the potential to produce a whole organism depends on epigenetic reprogramming.
The zygotes of many species undergo rapid cell cycles with no significant overall growth, producing a cluster of cells the same size as the original zygote. The different cells derived from cleavage are called blastomeres and form a compact mass called the morula. Cleavage ends with the formation of the blastula, or of the blastocyst in mammals.
The blastocyst is fully implanted day 7–12 of fertilization. [1] Formation of the yolk sac. The embryonic cells flatten into a disk, two cells thick. If separation into identical twins occurs, 2/3 of the time it will happen between days 5 and 9. If it happens after day 9, there is a significant risk of the twins being conjoined.
During these cellular divisions, the zygote remains the same size, but the number of cells increase. The morula enters the uterus after three or four days—during which a cavity, called the blastocoel, is formed to produce the blastocyst. [4] Once the blastocyst is formed, it undergoes implantation into the endometrium. [4]
In the mammalian blastocyst there are three lineages that give rise to later tissue development. The epiblast gives rise to the fetus itself while the trophoblast develops into part of the placenta and the primitive endoderm becomes the yolk sac. [6] In the mouse embryo, blastocoel formation begins at the 32-cell stage.