Embryology

Study of Development

History of Embryology
Aristotle (384-322 BC)
Father of the Embryology
Has described embryo as soul and solid mass which
comes from menstrual blood after having mix with
male semen.

Claudius Galen
Wrote first book on embryology

Leonardo De Vinci
Dissect pregnant uteri containing fetus.
First scientist to develop quantitative approach

 Fabricius of Aquapendente (1578-1657)

First scientist to study different species.
Concluded that embryos were secreted by the uterus.
Marcello Malpighi (1628-1694)
First microscopic account of chick development

Quest for the egg

Epigenesis vs. preformation?
William Harvey (1578-1657)
Blastoderm
Blood islands
He described that we
are not preformation .

 Regnier de Graaf (1641-1673)

Detailed study of the ovary
Follicles ~eggs
Gave the terms like graffian follicles and
ovaries

 Karl Ernst von Baer (1792-1876)

First to see the mammalian egg
Two major inventions 1) corresponding stages
of embryonic development and 2) General
characteristics precedes specific ones.
Father of modern embyology

Quest for the spermatozoa

Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723)
First one who observed the Human sperm.
Misunderstood the concept of fertilization.

New age of embryology

Theodore Schwann cell theory
Kaspar Friedrich Wolff (1734-1794)
embryonic parts develop from tissues that have
no counterpart in the adult organism
This lead to the conception of zygote later on .

William His
Develops the method for staining of tissues.

William Roux
Tissue induction

 Rudolph Albert von Klliker (1817-1905)

First textbook on embryology in 1861

 Hans Speeman (1869-1941)

Nobel Prize in 1935 for
embryonic induction

Embryology:: It is the field of embryology

concerned with the changes that cells,
tissues, organs and the body as a whole
undergo from a germ cell of each parent
to the resulting adult.

Key terms for Embryology

Gametes : Specialized generative cells for the
reproductions.
Sperms : Male Gametes produced in testis
Oocyte : Female Gametes produced in ovaries
Gametogenesis : Formation and development of
specialized generative cells.
Spermatogenesis : Formation of sperms
Oogenesis
: Formation of oocytes
Zygote
: Union of oocyte and sperm
Gestational Age : 2 Weeks after the fertilization when
doctors can find the fertilization

Continued terms
Cleavage : Series of mitotic cell division of the zygote
Blastomere : Early embryonic cells. Size of the cleavage
becomes smaller at each division
Morula
: Solid mass of 12 32 blastomeres
This is formed by cleavage of the zygote after. 3 4 days
of the fertilization
Compaction : Phenomenon, mediated by glycoproteins in
which blastomeres change their shapes and tightly align
to each other.
Implantation : Process in which the blastocyst attaches to
the endometrium/ lining of the uterus

Conti.
Gastrula : comes from term gaster means stomach. It is
3 layered / trilaminar embryonic disk. These 3 layers are
Ectoderm, Mesoderm and Endoderm.
Neurula : Early embryo at 3rd or 4th week , when neutral
tube is developing and this is the first appearance of
nervous system .
Embryo : From fertilization to the end of the 8 th week. 56
days.
Conceptus : Embryo and its adnexa which includes
embryonic as well as extra embryonic parts, like
placenta, amnion, umbilical vesicle and chorionic sac.
Primordium : First indication of an organ.

Terms
Abortion : Premature stoppage of development and
explusion of a conceptus from the uterus./ Explusion of
an embryo or fetus before it becomes viable
Infant : 1st year of ife. After birth neonates total length
increases by half the total and weight tripples.
Childhood : 13 months
Puberty : Ends with first menstrual cycle in females
and maturation of sperms in males. Usualy 12 15 years
in girls and 13 16 years in boys.
Adolescene : Ability to reproduce
Adulthood : 18 21. Ossification and growth is
completed.

Terms
Teratology : : It is derived from the teratos =
monster. It is the division of embryology
and pathology that deals with abnormal
development. Mainly dealing with the
factors which will lead to abnormal
development. E.g. Diaphragmatic hernia,
congential heart disease, Heamophilia.