Week 1 - J - Development of the nervous system Flashcards
What is conception and when does development of the brain begin?
Conception is the initiation of pregnancy
Brain development begins in the third week post-conception (third week of gestation)
What is an autosomal recessive condition where you are unable to break down the amino acid phenylalanine, which then builds up in the blood and brain. This can lead to brain damage?
Phenylketonuria (PKU)
What test checks for PKU when an infant is 5 days of age?
Guthries test
What are some symtpoms associated with PKU?
Behavioural difficulties, eczema, tremors and epilepsy
The neural development can be influenced by factors that can be separated into: Intrauterine environemnt Extrauterine environment What can affect the baby in the intrauterine environment?
Maternal health and disease (ie PKU)
Continuous insult to child eg alcohol exposure and cytomegalovirus
What is the embryonic period defined as? What is the foetal period?
Embryonic - Conception to week 8
Foetal - week 9 of development to week 40
What are the 6 stages of embryonic development?
Gametogenesis
Fertilization
Cleavage
Gastrulation
Morphogenesis
Organogenesis
What stage of development do the germ layers form? (what are the germ layers)
Gastrulation: Formation of the Germ Layers
Ectoderm, Mesoderm, Endoderm
What layer forms neural tissue and what else does this layer form?
Skin, hair, nails and neural tissue
Formed by the ectoderm
What layer forms the dermis and what layer forms the epidermis?
The ectoderm forms a single layer periderm which is evntually shed to form the epidermis
The dermis is formed by the mesoderm
What does the mesoderm also form?
Muscle, bone, cartilage and vasuclar system
What does the endoderm form?
Endoderm forms the gut and respiratory tissue
What is the first well defined neural structure to form?
The neural tube
How is the neural tube formed? (neural plate is a portion of the ectoderm that becomes neural ectoderm and this is where the formation of neural tube begins)
Neural progenitor cells arise from the nerual plate that gives rise to a neural groove eventually giving the neural tube formation
What does the anterior/rostral part of the neural tube become? What does the caudal part of the neural tube become?
The anterior /rostral tube will become the brain
Caudal tube will become the spinal cord.
What is the forebrain, midbrain and hindbrain known as? (the three primary vesicles in development of the brain)
Forebrain - prosencephalon
Midbrain - mesencephalon
Hindbrain - rhombencephalon
