Embryology Flashcards
When does the upper limb bud appear on the flank of the embryo?
Day 26 as a lateral outgrowth
What does the upper limb bud consist of?
Core of lateral plate mesoderm growing into the overlying ectoderm
What does the mesoderm in the upper limb bud differentiate into?
Bone, cartilage and tendon
What happens to the ectoderm in the upper limb bud?
Thickens at the tip of the bud in the antero-posterior axis - forms the apical ectodermal ridge
What is the antero-posterios axis in the upper limb bud analogous to?
The radio-ulnar axis
How is the upper limb bud supplied initially?
Through a capillary network
How does the upper limb bud’s blood supply develop?
The capillary network coalesces into a main stem artery that drains into a marginal vein
The artery becomes the subclavian-axillary-brachial axis
The vein becomes the basilic-axillary-subclavian axis
What branches does the brachial artery divide into?
Interosseous and Median arteries
Describe the median artery’s blood supply distribution?
Main blood supply to the hand
Later regresses to provide the blood supply of the median nerve
What is the main blood supply to the hand?
Median artery initially
Around D44 it is replaced by the radial and ulnar arteries
When is a paddle-shaped hand present?
D33
What structure appears where skeletal elements will form?
Pre-chondrogenic condensations of mesenchyme
Def chondrogenic: the process by which cartilage is formed from condensed mesenchyme tissue, which differentiates into chondrocytes and begins secreting the molecules that form the extracellular matrix
When does the nerve trunk enter the arm?
D36
What does somitic mesoderm differentiate into?
Muscles
After invading the limbs somitic mesoderm aggregates into dorsal and ventral masses - these differentiate into myoblasts that later become muscles
When does the hand assume a webbed appearance?
D42 - Digital rays are present
What happens during the 7th week (D42 - D49)?
- Upper limb rotates 90 degrees laterally (palm now anterior)
- Elbow flex
- Ossification and digital separation commences
How does digital separation occur?
Apoptosis between the finger rays
When does the upper extremity resemble a miniature adult upper limb?
By the 8th week (D49 - D56)
Where does our understanding of upper limb development come from?
Silkie Chicken limbs
Transplanting tissue within chick embryos
What are the three axes of upper limb development?
- Proximodistal
- Anteroposterior (Known as AP pathway but is actually Posteroanterior)
- Dorsoventral