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In mammals, the term refers chiefly to the early stages of prenatal development, whereas the terms fetus and fetal development describe later stages. [2] [4] The main stages of animal embryonic development are as follows: The zygote undergoes a series of cell divisions (called cleavage) to form a structure called a morula.
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.
Embryonic development of salamander, circa the 1920s Embryos (and one tadpole) of the wrinkled frog (Rana rugosa) Mouse and snake embryos. In animals, fertilization begins the process of embryonic development with the creation of a zygote, a single cell resulting from the fusion of gametes (e.g. egg and sperm). [5]
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]
1 - morula, 2 - blastula 1 - blastula, 2 - gastrula with blastopore; orange - ectoderm, red - endoderm. Embryology (from Greek ἔμβρυον, embryon, "the unborn, embryo"; and -λογία, -logia) is the branch of animal biology that studies the prenatal development of gametes (sex cells), fertilization, and development of embryos and fetuses.
The main processes involved in the embryonic development of animals are: tissue patterning (via regional specification and patterned cell differentiation); tissue growth; and tissue morphogenesis. Regional specification refers to the processes that create the spatial patterns in a ball or sheet of initially similar cells.
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.
Animals were seen to develop into adults of widely differing body plan, often through similar stages, from the egg, but zoologists knew almost nothing about how embryonic development was controlled at the molecular level, and therefore equally little about how developmental processes had evolved. [9]