Embryology Flashcards
When are the pre embryonic, embryonic and foetal periods of human development?
Pre embryonic = weeks 1-2
Embryonic = weeks 3-8
Foetal = weeks 9-38 (+/- 1/2 weeks is normal)
When is pregnancy calculated from?
Date of lmp so term is 40 pregnancy weeks.
How does 1 cell become a multi cellular body?
Growth:
Morphogenesis, lot of individual cells, development of form and structure.
Differentiation, cells of the right type, specialisation for function.
What is a zygote?
Fertilised ovum/oocyte
What is cleavage?
The dividing of cells into two masses known as blastomeres. First cleavage happens around thirty hours after fertilisation.
What is the Zona pellucida?
The glycoprotein shell to prevent polyspermy.
What is the morula?
The result of cleavage of the fertilised oocyte, each cell is totipotent.
What is the blastocyst?
Formed from the compaction of cells that make up the morula.
What is trophoblast?
Outer cell mass that will later form support structures for the embryo eg. Placenta
What is embryoblast?
Inner cell mass that will later become the bilaminar disk.
What is implantation?
The attachment of the blastocyst to the wall of the uterus at day 6/7
What is cytotrophoblast?
Derivative of the trophoblast, placental membrane around the the yolk sac
What is the syncitiotrophoblast?
Derivative of trophoblast, cells that invade maternal sinusoids (irregular blood vessels) resulting in uteroplacental circulation.
What are the first and second developmental processes?
1st - cleavage (first mitotic division), formation of morula, clump of identical cells.
2nd - compaction, formation of blastocyst.
When does implantation begin?
When blastocyst makes contact with the endometrium of uterus, establishing of pregnancy
What is formed during compaction at day 4?
Blastomeres making up morula compact to form the blastocyst. Form embryoblast, trophoblast and blastocyst cavity encased in Zona pellucida.
What is hatching? Day 5
When the blastocyst hatches from the Zona pellucida. No longer constrained and free to enlarge. Can now interact with the uterine surge to implant.
What are some assistive reproductive techniques?
Oocytes can be fertilised in vitro and allowed to divide until the 4/8 cell stage where the morula is then implanted into the uterus.
PGD-pre implantation genetic diagnosis. A cell can be safely removed from the morula and tested for serious heritable conditions prior to transfer of the embryo into the mother if couple have serious risk of inheritable conditions.
How is the blastocyst cavity formed during compaction?
The morula secrete a small amount of tissue fluid which collects and forms the cavity.
Are the cells pluripotent Or totipotent after compaction?
Pluripotent
What has the priority at the beginning of development?
The placenta
In week 2 distinct layers form from the inner and outer cell mass. What are they and what are their features?
From trophoblast:
Syncitiotrophoblast, multi nucliated layer/ sheet for support and good for transport.
Cytotrophoblast, seed layer for the syncitiotrophoblast
From the embryoblast:
Epiblast
Hypoblast
Both become bilaminar disk
What happens by the end of the second week?
Concept is has implanted, the embryo and its 2 cavities (amniotic cavity and yolk sac) will be suspended by a connecting stalk within a supporting sac (chorionic cavity)
How is the amniotic cavity produced?
Cells keep producing tissue fluid
What happens in the second week?
The embryo and placenta start to be formed. At the earliest stages the placenta has priority. Differentiation occurs in the layers of cells and the bilaminar disk and the amniotic cavity are formed.
What happens in implantation?
It is interstitial (one tissue within another). The uterine epithelium is breached and the conceptus implants within the uterine stoma. As it is invasive and leaves a hole in the endometrium a fibrin plug is needed to repair it. The embryo them has access to all the glands of the glandular epithelium.
What does implantation do?
Establishes maternal blood flow within the placenta. Support of embryo changes from histiotrophic (relies on simple tissue diffusion only) to haemotrophic (relying on support of maternal circulatory system)
Establishes basic structure of materno-foetal exchange.
What are implantation defects a result of?
Implantation in the wrong place
What are some examples of implantation defects?
IUGR, interuterine growth restriction Preeclampsia Both more subtle implantation processes Ectopic pregnancy Placenta praevia Both implantation in the wrong place.
What happens in an ectopic pregnancy?
Implantation at site other than the uterine body (most commonly Fallopian tube)
Can be peritoneal or ovarian
Can very quickly become life threatening emergency, due to haemorrhage. Implantation is invasive and will implant wherever it ends up, there are lots of blood vessels in the hips
What happens in placenta praevia?
Implantation in the lower uterine segment across point of exit at cervical opening, placenta at risk of bleeding during pregnancy, require c section delivery.
What is the embryonic pole and the abembryonic pole? Day 9
Embryonic- rapid development of syncytiotrophoblast.
Abembryonic- primitive yolk sac formed by hypoblast cells. Yolk sac membrane in contact with cytotrophoblast layer
What happens after the primitive yolk sac is formed? Day 11
Primitive yolk sac membrane is pushed away from cytotrophoblast layer by an acellular extra embryonic reticulum (primitive ground substance)
Reticulum later converted to extra embryonic mesoderm by cell migration (differentiates)
What role does the syncytiotrophoblast have on day 12?
Invades the maternal sinusoids which are capillaries that empty into and fill the spaces in the lacuna which are ready to be filled with blood (spaces in the syncytiotrophoblast). Lacunae become continuous with sinusoids and so uteroplacental circulation begins.
How is the secondary yolk sac formed? Day 13
Pinches off from primitive yolk sac, aka definitive yolk sac.
How is the chorionic cavity formed and what is the connecting stalk? What can bleeding around this time be confused with? Day 14
Spaces within the extra embryonic mesoderm merge to form chorionic cavity.
The connecting stalk suspends the embryo and its cavities in the chorionic cavity. The connecting stalk is a column of mesoderm and is the future umbilical cord.
Bleeding can be confused with menstrual bleeding.