Practical 3. The Virtual Mammalian Embryo Flashcards
What are the three principles for use of animals in research ?
- Reduction
- Refinement
- Replacement
What do the guiding principles in the European Directive aim to do ?
- Minimise the number of animals used per experiment
- Minimise animal suffering and improve welfare
- Encourage the use of alternative approaches to addressing important scientific questions, without the use of animals where possible
What is the importance of staging embryos ?
Valid integration and comparison of data across labs and experiments
What is the developmental age of an embryo cited as ?
The number of days post coitum (dpc)
What is the first event in organogenesis ?
Neuralation
What is organogenesis ?
The establishment of body plan at the appropriate position within the embryo
What does organogenesis involve ?
The local interactions between cells and morphogenetic changes in tissue and cell shape
What forms in the first step of neurulation ?
Notochord
What is the notochord ?
The formation of a rod like structure of mesoderm cells along the dorsal midline of the future embryo
What is a characteristic of cells in the notochord ?
They can induce other surrounding cells to initiate differentiation
What do signals sent from the notochord to overlying ectoderm form ?
Neural plate
How does the neural tube form ?
The neural plate begins to fold upwards forming neural folds, which then fuse and enclose an internalised neural tube
What is molecular anatomy ?
Showing where molecular changes are happening within the changing anatomy
What are the basis of classical anatomical descriptions ?
Physically visible differences and boundaries between cells, tissues and organs
