UNSW Embryology

Beginnings, Growth and Development - Practical 3

© Dr Mark Hill (2008)

Acknowledgements

Introduction

We will study human development over a series of 3 practical classes spanning the overall human prenatal developmental timecourse. There will be an additional class covering the extramebryonic tissues formed from the conceptus (the embryonic membranes and placenta).

Online Practical Help

1. Online Practical Pages contain quicktime movies which work better using the Firefox browser on your desktop (Internet Explorer may crash)
2. Bookmark this current page (so you don't get lost)
3. Work through the series of linked online resources with the demonstrator (listed in order the lefthand menu on each page)
4. Online Page Organisation is the same on each page with a lefthand menu and righthand content (here)
5. Righthand Content has a series of images, text and movies down the page in sequence, a list of Terms and a link to a Glossary (near the bottom of each page is a link "the white rabbit" to the next page)
6. External Links there are links on some pages which may take you to other places outside the current Practical (navigate carefully, remember point 2!)
7. Practical Content latest version is always available freely online (DVD Version will be available to purchase from the SOMS Office the week after Practical 11 containing the current practicals, the current DVD version has 2006 Practical)
8. Finished when we have reached and discussed Week 3 Overview (pages Medicine, Histology and References are not covered in the Practical but for your own additional study)

Practical - Fertilization to Implantation

Aim: This laboratory is an introduction to the earliest event in development, from fertilization of the ovum (egg) by sperm through to implantation.

Images of Human Egg, Spermatazoa and Zygote

Unfertilized Human Egg (with surrounding corona radiata)	Spermatazoa (maturing within testis seminiferous tubule)	Fertilized Human Egg (with 2 pronuclei, 2 polar bodies)

Key Concepts: Gonad, gametogenesis, ovary, testes, menstral cycle, oocyte development (oogenesis), sperm development (spermatogenesis), sperm morphology/motility, meiosis/mitosis, follicle, ovulation, zona pellucida, polar bodies, hormonal changes, mechanism of fertilization, post-fertilization changes, corpus luteum, zygote, morula, blastocyst, zona pellucida, embryoblast, trophoblast, ectopic implantation, abnormalities.

Key Reading:

Human Embryology, WJ. Larsen Chapter 1, 2, 3

The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology. Moore & Persaud Chapter 1, 2

Next

Link to next page in this Practical 3 - Ovary

Glossary

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

Terms

A simplified description of terms more detailed definitions are available from the Glossary link above.

• Conceptus - all cells produced from the zygote, including the embryo and extraembryonic tissues (fetal membranes and placenta).
• Egg - the cell from the mother that contributes half the genes of the embryo.
• Fertilization - a process where a single male (father) and female (mother) cell are joined together and their genetic material combined.
• Genes - information in the cell that gives it rules on how to grow and what type of cell to become. More Genes This information is stored in DNA in the cell nucleus.
• Sperm - the cell from the father that contributes half the genes of the embryo.
• Uterus - the space within the mother where the embryo grows. It also grows when the embryo does and has lots of blood to feed the embryo and strong muscles in its walls for childbirth.
• Zygote - the first cell formed after fertilization.

More Genes note - a few genes are also located in each cell outside the nucleus, in mitochondria (mitochondrial DNA) which are involved in cellular respiration. These mitochondrial genes are always inherited from your mother (the egg) not your father (sperm).

Comments

Welcome to your first Practical class in BGD Embryology with me in the new medical curriculum!

You already have had an Introduction to Human Development in Foundations, we will now explore development in more depth through a series of lectures and Practical classes.

We begin with the generation of gametes (egg and sperm) in gonads (ovary and testes), their coming together in the complex act of ferilization and the formation of the first cell, the zygote and it development in the first 2 weeks including the process of implantation.

Of all the steps we take in life, this combination of parental genomes specifies and sets much of what we will become and how our health outcomes will develop through our lives. Think about what these genetic setting mean and what other developmental consequences will eventually impact on patient health.

More recently the impact of birth control, in vitro fertilization techniques, "stem cell" research, ethical and legal issues, and social changes in reproductive decisions has focussed public attention on this critical biological event.

This class is going to take you through the earliest steps in human development using linked online resources you will use in the actual class.

The lefthand side menu has links to all pages (in sequence) required for this Lab, alternatively follow the white rabbit.... Also at the bottom of the same menu is a window to Search UNSW Embryology using any term/concept you do not understand. (note the search window uses Google, so will only work with an active internet connection.

If you are interested in a more detailed coverage, look at the Early Development 1 and Early Development 2 sections of Notes (from the lefthand menu).

These notes and linked materials have been prepared for Educational purposes only.

Please email Dr Mark Hill if you wish to make a comment about this current project.

UNSW Embryology ISBN: 978 0 7334 2609 4

UNSW CRICOS Provider Code No. 00098G