Development of the Limbs Flashcards
What are HOX genes?
A group of related genes that specify regions of the body plan of an embryo along the head-tail axis of animals. Hox proteins encode and specify the characteristics of ‘position’, ensuring that the correct structures form in the correct places of the body.
By what week are the limbs well differentiated?
Week 8
What germ layer do the limbs come from?
Lateral plate mesoderm (bone, skeletal muscles, some organs, blood vessels)
What is mesoderm?
The mesoderm is one of the three germinal layers that appears in the third week of embryonic development. It is formed through a process called gastrulation.
What are the 3 components of mesoderm?
- Paraxial mesoderm
- Intermediate mesoderm
- Lateral plate mesoderm
What does the paraxial mesoderm give rise to?
Paraxial mesoderm forms somites that give rise to the cells that form the vertebrae and ribs, the dermis of the dorsal skin, the skeletal muscles of the back, and the skeletal muscles of the body wall and limbs
What does the lateral plate mesoderm give rise to?
Limb skeleton and connective tissues
What do the somites then divide into?
- A ventral part - the sclerotome
- A dorsolateral part - the dermomyotome
What does the sclerotome give rise to?
Vertebral column
What does the dermomyotome then divide into?
A dermatome and a myotome
What does the dermatome go on to form?
Dermis of the skin
What does the myotome go on to form?
Skeletal muscles
The myotome then subdivides into a dorsal and a ventral part. What does the dorsal part give rise to? What does the ventral part give rise to?
Dorsal part –> gives rise to the muscles of the back
Ventral part –> gives rise to the muscles of the limbs, thoracic and abdominal walls
What will the muscles of the back be innervated by?
Dorsal rami of spinal nerves
What will the muscles of the limbs, thoracic and abdominal walls (ventral myotome) be innervated by?
Ventral rami of spinal nerves
How do the limbs initially appear?
Appear as limb buds in week 4
What are limb buds?
Outpouchings from the ventrolateral body wall
What does ‘hindlimb’ refer to? ‘Forelimb’?
Hindlimb - lower limb
Forelimb - upper limb
Does the hindlimb bud or the forelimb bud develop first?
Forelimb, by a couple of days
What are the limb buds composed of?
- Initially the buds consist of a core of tissue derived from the lateral plate mesoderm
- This will form connective tissue and bone
- This is covered by a layer of ectoderm
What does the lateral plate mesoderm core of the limb bud then differentiate to form?
The bones and connective tissues of the limbs
The mesoderm of the somites (the myotome) then begins to migrate. Where does it migrate?
Either ventrally or dorsally
As the ventral myotome migrates, what are its 2 destinations?
- Anteriorly
- Limb buds
As the myotome migrates, some migrates anteriorly. What does this give rise to?
Anterior body wall muscles
Regarding the myotome that migrates into the limb bud, what does this give rise to?
Skeletal muscles of the limbs (upper and lower)
As the mesoderm (myotome) from the somites migrates into the limb buds, what does it take with it?
Ventral rami of the spinal nerves
Where does the dorsal part of the myotome migrate? What do they take with them?
Dorsally to form the back muscles. They take with them the dorsal rami of spinal nerves.
Once the somite mesoderm enters the limb bud, what does it condense into?
A posterior and an anterior condensation
What does the posterior condensation become?
- The extensors and supinators of the upper limb
- The extensors and abductors of the lower limb