UNSW Embryology

Development History

© Dr Mark Hill (2008)

Acknowledgements

Introduction

These notes are intended to give some historic background to Embryology. Historically, say pre-20th century, Embryology was not easily separated from Medicine, Anatomy and Physiology and other biological sciences. I have also divided, for brevity, into pre-20th century, pre-molecular (lets call it 70's) and the current molecular embryology.

See also a Timeline of Historical Embryology

Long Ago

Arabian Medicine

Mediaeval

The Great Anatomists

Philosopher-Scientists

16-17C Medicine

A series of Anatomies from Early History 1600-1700.

Harvey

Leeuwenhoek

18C Anatomy and Physiology

19th Century

19C Anatomy

1880 - image excerpts from a historic study of German embryologist Wilhelm His (1831-1904) Anatomie menschlicher Embryonen (1880).

Leydig cells named after german zoologist Franz von Leydig (1821 - 1908). (Franz von Leydig)

Evolution Theories | Evolution Darwin

1824 - Rolando cut chemically hardened (fixed) pieces of brain tissues into thin sections for microscopical examination

1889 - Camille Golgi discovered a method of silver staining hardened brain tissues

Brain and Mind

Brain Structure

Early 20th Century

1914 - image excerpts from a historic study of The Anatomy of a 17.8 mm Human Embryo by Thyng, FW 1914,

1918 - links to images from Anatomy of the Human Body by Gray, W 1918

1935 - Hans Spemann's 1935 nobel speech.

Development in the early 20th century can also be seen in some Historic Movies 1920-1960.

Late 20th Century

Much of the modern history of Medicine/Embryology is documented in the Nobel Prizes for Medicine. There are either text extracts included or links to external texts or references in these notes.

Some key women in development 1953 Virginia Apgar and 1965 Le Douarin.

1953 - Virginia Apgar Apgar Test.

1965 - Neural Crest Research Nicole Le Douarin.

1978 - First IVF baby born

21st Century

2000 - Human Genome Draft

2001 talk given by Robert Winston "Engineering Reproduction: Will We Still Be Human At The End of the 21st Century".

2000 - Human Genome Complete

Also see WWW Links to other History of Medicine Resources, particularly Dr. Ian Carr's brief paper on The History of Childbirth, and Neonatology on the Web has a long list of historic Classic Papers in Neonatal Medicine.

Reading

Most Textbooks include Embryology Historic issues in the preface, opening chapter or within each chapter as a special section or highlighted text box. Therefore no specific chapter or page reference is shown for the texts below.

• Human Embryology (2nd ed.) Larson
• The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology (6th ed.) Moore and Persaud
• Before we Are Born (5th ed.) Moore and Persaud
• Essentials of Human Embryology Larson
• Fitzgerald

History of Science

by Henry Smith Williams

Book Sections: Index | Arabian Medicine | Mediaeval | The great anatomists | The coming of Harvey | Leeuwenhoek16th and 17th Medicine | Philosopher-Scientists | 18C Anat/Physiol | 18th C Anat/Phys Part 2 | 18th C Anat/Phys Part 3 | 19th C Anat/ Phys Part 1 | 19th C Anat/ Phys Part 2 | 19th C Anat/ Phys Part 3 | Evolution Part 1 | Evolution Part 2 | Medicine Medicine 18thC | Medicine 19thC Pt1 | Medicine 19thC Pt2 | Brain and Mind | Brain Structure

References

• Early history references 1600-1700
• See Historic Reference Page
• A HISTORY OF SCIENCE by Henry Smith Williams
• THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES by Charles Darwin

Nobel awards in Medicine

• The Nobel Prize Homepage has a searchable database and an annual table of awards.
• The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2002 - discoveries concerning 'genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death' Summary: "The human body consists of hundreds of cell types, all originating from the fertilized egg. During the embryonic and foetal periods, the number of cells increase dramatically. The cells mature and become specialized to form the various tissues and organs of the body. Large numbers of cells are formed also in the adult body. In parallel with this generation of new cells, cell death is a normal process, both in the foetus and adult, to maintain the appropriate number of cells in the tissues. This delicate, controlled elimination of cells is called programmed cell death."
• The discovery of Hox genes and other genes related to body pattern formation. The fly Antennapedia mutant during development the embryo incorrectly positions two legs (pedia) where antenna should have been positioned. The discovery of this mutant in opened up the field of developmental genes and this field has recently (1995) been rewarded with a Nobel prize in Medicine. See also Fly Development notes
• Award Details: "for their discoveries concerning the genetic control of early embryonic development"
  • LEWIS, EDWARD B., U.S.A., California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, U.S.A., * 1918
  • NÜSSLEIN-VOLHARD, CHRISTIANE, Germany, Max-Planck-Institut für Entwicklungsbiologie, Tübingen, Germany, * 1942
  • WIESCHAUS, ERIC F., U.S.A., Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, U.S.A., * 1947

WWW Links

• Hippocrates on the Web
  • Faculty of Medicine of the University of Manitoba.
  • Histories of Medicine on the web by Manitoba Authors
  • DYING TO HAVE A BABY - THE HISTORY OF CHILDBIRTH
    • by Dr. Ian Carr,  Professor of Pathology
• Hannah Chair, History of Medicine, Queen's University
• Karolinska Institute- History of Biomedicine
• MEDICAL HISTORY ON THE INTERNET
  • only a list of links
• Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine
• WWW Virtual Library - History of Medicine
• Antique Medical Instruments- Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
• Online Microscopes
• Neonatology on the Web
  • Classic Papers in Neonatal Medicine- (A large list of historic texts available online)
    • An Essay upon Nursing and the Management of Children, from their Birth to Three Years of Age, Third Edition, by William Cadogan, 1749.

Glossary of Terms

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

Quick Links

History Pages:

Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Arabian Medicine | Mediaeval | The great anatomists | The coming of Harvey | Leeuwenhoek16th and 17th Medicine | Philosopher-Scientists | 18C Anat/Physiol | Part 2 | Part 3 | 19th C Anat/ Phys Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Evolution Part 1 | Part 2 | Medicine 18th | 19th Pt1 | 19th Pt2 | Brain and Mind | Brain Structure

Development Notes ----------------- Menstrual Cycle Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Placenta Serial Images Genes/DNA Molecular Dev Abnormal Dev Postnatal Dev Notes Index

System Notes ----------------- Heart/Cardiovascular Respiratory Coelomic cavity Gastrointestinal Tract Head and Neck Neural Neural Crest Eye Ear Nose Endocrine Urogenital Musculoskeletal Integumentary

Movies ----------------- Embryo Growth Ultrasound Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Stage 13/14 Stage 22 Neural Head and Neck Heart Vasculature Gastrointestinal Urogenital Other Embryos Larsen Internet

Other Embryos ----------------- Chicken Fly Frog Mouse Rabbit Rat Worm Zebrafish Guinea Pig

UNSW Embryology ISBN: 978 0 7334 2609 4

UNSW CRICOS Provider Code No. 00098G