Early Devlopment Flashcards
What is fertilization age (also known as coneptual age)?
- measured from the time of fertilization (assumed to be +1 day from last ovulation)
- difficult to know time of fertilization exactly (unless IVF)
What is gestational age?
- calculated from the time of the beginning of the last menstrual period (LMP)
- Determined by fertilization date (+14 days) if known, or early obstetric ultrasound and comparison to embryo size charts
What is carnegie stage?
- 23 stages of embryo development based on embryo features not time
- Allows comparison of developmental rates between species
- Covers the window of 0-60 days fertilization age in humans
What is the time of embryogenic stage?
14-16 days post-fertilization
What is the time of embryonic stage?
16-~50 days post fertilization
What is the time of fetal stage?
~50 to 270 days post-fertilization or ~8 to ~38 weeks
What is the embryogenic stage?
- establishing the early embryo from the fertilized oocyte
- Determining two populations of cells: pluripotent embryonic cells (contribute to fetus)
- Extraembryonic cells (contribute to the support structures eg placenta)
What is the embryonic stage?
- Establishment of the germ layers and differentiation of tissue types
- Establishment of the body plan
What is the fetal stage?
- Major organ systems now present
- Migration of some organ systems to final location
- Extensive growth and acquisition of fetal viability (survival outside the womb)
- 2nd/3rd trimester
How many cells are in an ovulated oocyte?
1
How many cells are in a zygote?
1
How many cells are in the cleavage stage embryos?
2-8
How many cells are in morula?
16+
How many cells are in blastocyst?
200-300
At what cell stage are the genes of the embryo not transcribed until?
Until 4-8 cell stage
What is the embryo dependent on to get through the first divisions?
dependent on maternal mRNAs and proteins
What happens to these mRNA and proteins during oocyte development (i.e. pre-ovulation)
synthesized and stored
What can impair embryonic development?
failure to synthesise, store or interpret these mRNAs and proteins during oogenesis
What happens during the maternal-to-zygotic transition (4-8 cell stage)?
- Transcription of embryonic genes (zygotic genome activation)
- Increased protein synthesis
- Organelle (mitochondria, Golgi) maturation
What does compaction start?
the formation of the first two cell types