Lecture - Mesoderm Development

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Introduction

Mesoderm formation

Having now reached week 3 in development we will now begin to look separately at the 3 transient germ layers (ectoderm, mesoderm and endoderm) formed by the process of gastrulation. Beginning with the mesoderm layer, the middle embryonic connective tissue (mesenchyme) layer. Transient in terms of temporary structures that will become something else later in development.


Mesoderm initially forms a multilayered cellular layer separating ectoderm and endoderm, mesoderm also lies outside the embryo as extra-embryonic mesoderm (covered in placenta lecture). Embryonic mesoderm will form most of the adult connective tissues and muscle.


Towards the end of week 3 this layer begins to "partition" into different transient components based upon their location within the layer and the signals the cells are receiving. This partitioning process can be either in terms of cell differentiation or structural. This lecture will describe these initial regions and the tissues they will eventually form. Note that later lectures (muscle, skeleton, limb, integumentary and heart) will revisit these tissues later in development.


Objectives

  • Understanding of events during the third week of development
  • Understanding the process of early somite development
  • Understanding the process of body cavity formation
  • Brief understanding of the future fate of mesoderm components
  • Brief understanding of early heart formation
Presomitic mesoderm movie 3 icon.jpg
 ‎‎Presomite Mesod
Page | Play

These are mesoderm cells migrating from the primitive stria.

Lecture Resources

Movies  
Mesoderm 001 icon.jpg
 ‎‎Week 3 Mesoderm
Page | Play
Notochord 01 icon.jpg
 ‎‎Week 3 Notochord
Page | Play
Notochord 02 icon.jpg
 ‎‎Week 3 Notochord
Page | Play
Week3 folding icon.jpg
 ‎‎Week 3
Page | Play
Vertebra 003 icon.jpg
 ‎‎Vertebra
Page | Play
Somite 001 icon.jpg
 ‎‎Musculoskeletal
Page | Play
Somitogenesis 01 icon.jpg
 ‎‎Somitogenesis
Page | Play
Mesoderm migration movie 1 icon.jpg
 ‎‎Mesoderm Move
Page | Play
Presomitic mesoderm movie 3 icon.jpg
 ‎‎Presomite Mesod
Page | Play
References  
UNSW Embryology logo
Hill, M.A. (2020). UNSW Embryology (20th ed.) Retrieved March 19, 2024, from https://embryology.med.unsw.edu.au
Textbook cover Larsen's human embryology 5th edn.
Moore, K.L., Persaud, T.V.N. & Torchia, M.G. (2015). The developing human: clinically oriented embryology (10th ed.). Philadelphia: Saunders.
The following chapter links only work with a UNSW connection.
Textbook cover Larsen's human embryology 5th edn.
Schoenwolf, G.C., Bleyl, S.B., Brauer, P.R., Francis-West, P.H. & Philippa H. (2015). Larsen's human embryology (5th ed.). New York; Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone.
The following chapter links only work with a UNSW connection.
Recent Research  
Some recent papers that relate to mesoderm development.

<pubmed>27506116</pubmed> <pubmed>27385009</pubmed> <pubmed>27437584</pubmed>


Take the Mesoderm Quiz.

Notochord (Axial mesoderm)


Mesoderm

Stage 7 mesoderm
The trilaminar embryo
  • generated from epiblast cells migrating through the primitive streak
  • epiblast cells expressing fibroblast growth factor (FGF2)
  • forms a layer between ectoderm and endoderm with notochord down midline
  • present before neural tube formation
  • divides initially into 3 components
  • Paraxial mesoderm - somites - musculoskeletal structures
  • Intermediate mesoderm - urogenital (kidney and genital)
  • Lateral plate mesoderm - body wall, body cavities, cardiovascular and GIT structures

Mesoderm Development

The four images below beginning at week 3 show cross-sections of the trilaminar embryo and the sequence of mesoderm development.

Mesoderm-cartoon1.jpg Mesoderm-cartoon2.jpg
Mesoderm-cartoon3.jpg Mesoderm-cartoon4.jpg

Mesoderm Overview

Trilaminar embryo.jpg Stage11 sem100.jpg
Week 3

Trilaminar embryo

Compare this week 3 trilaminar embryo with the week 4 embryo.

  • Mesenchyme - embryonic connective tissue, describes the cell morphology (developmental transitions: epithelial to mesenchymal, mesenchymal to epithelial)

(Note - 2 these images are not to scale)

Week 4

Scanning electron micrograph of a cross-section of a human embryo at week 4 (stage 11).

Note the mesoderm structures now present and their relative position and size within the embryo.

Compare the mesoderm structures to those formed by ectoderm (neural tube and epidermis) and endoderm (epithelia of developing gastrointestinal tract).

Human Embryo Week 4 (Carnegie stage 10) - transverse section
Stage10 K12202-01.jpg Stage10 K12202-02.jpg

Paraxial Mesoderm

Hamburger & Hamilton Stage 10 (33 hours)
Presomitic mesoderm migration (chicken)


  • lies adjacent to axial mesoderm (notochord) and forms 2 components:
    • Head - unsegmented paraxial mesoderm
    • Body - segmented paraxial mesoderm
  • Generates trunk muscles, skeleton, dermis of skin, blood vessels, connective tissue


Segmented Paraxial Mesoderm

  • segments called somites - transient embryonic structures.
  • first pair of somites (day 20)
  • segmentation imposes a pattern on nerves, vasculature, vertebra....
  • somites appear in ordered sequence cranial to caudal
  • appearance so regular used to stage the embryo (Hamburger & Hamilton 1951- chicken)
    • thought to be generated by a "clock" (1 pair every 90 minutes)
    • neural tube begins to close at 4th somite level, 44 pairs of somites
Mesoderm-cartoon2.jpg

Model for Sprouty4 and FGF in mesoderm segmentation.jpg

Model for Sprouty4 and FGF in mouse mesoderm segmentation

Somite Formation

Carnegie stage 9 scanning electron microscope image showing somite formation
Carnegie stage 13 somitocoel
Carnegie stage 13 sclerotome
Presomitic mesoderm movie 3 icon.jpg
 ‎‎Presomite Mesod
Page | Play
Somitogenesis 01 icon.jpg
 ‎‎Somitogenesis
Page | Play
Stage10 bf6.jpg
Somite cartoon1.png Somite cartoon2.png
Somite cartoon3.png Somite cartoon4.png
Somite cartoon5.png Stage11 sem100.jpg
Stage11 sem13.jpg

Week 4 Carnegie stage 11

  • ball forms through epithelialization and interactions (cell-cell, cell-extracellular matrix, ECM) fibronectin, laminin
  • has 2 populations of cells - peripheral columnar and central mesenchymal
  • early somite has cavity- somitocoel, cavity is lost during growth
  • somite enclosed by ECM connected to nearby tissues

Somite Specification

Somite Specification
  • Different segmental level somites have to generate different segmental body structures?
  • somite has to form different tissues?
  • Somite Differentiation
  • Compartmentalization accompanied by altered patterns of expression of Pax genes within the somite
  • rostro-caudal axis appears regulated by Pax/Hox expression, family of DNA binding transcription factors

Somite initially forms 2 main components

  • ventromedial- sclerotome forms vertebral body and intervertebral disc
  • dorsolateral - dermomyotome forms dermis and skeletal muscle


Sclerotome

Human embryo (Carnegie stage 13) caudal trunk
  • sclerotome later becomes subdivided
  • rostral and caudal halves separated laterally by von Ebner's fissure
    • half somites contribute to a single vertebral level body
    • other half intervertebral disc
  • therefore final vertebral segmentation ‚"shifts"

Dermomyotome

  • later divides into dorsal dermatome and ventral myotome
    • This topic of muscle and skeleton development will be covered in 2 later lectures Musculoskeletal Development and Limb Development)
  • lateral myotome edge migrates at level of limbs
  • upper limb first then lower
  • mixes with somatic mesoderm
  • dermotome continues to contribute cells to myotome

Myotome

  • Myotome component of Somite
    • epaxial myotome (dorsomedial quarter) forms the dorsal epimere (erector spinae)
    • hypaxial myotome (dorsolateral quarter) forms the ventral hypomere, 3 primary muscle layers which are different at neck, thorax and abdomen
Stage 14 Embryo showing somites and limb buds (Week 5)

Muscle

  • Myoblast determining transcription factor MyoD is first expressed in the dorsomedial quadrant of the still epithelial somite whose cells are not yet definitely committed
    • basic Helix Loop Helix
    • from myotome

Muscle Development Abnormalities

  • Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
    • Embryonic muscle development normal and changes occur postnatally
    • X-linked dystrophy, large gene encoding cytoskeletal protein - Dystrophin
    • progressive wasting of muscle, die late teens
  • Becker Muscular Dystrophy, milder form, adult onset

Intermediate Mesoderm

  • lies between paraxial and lateral mesoderm
  • generates urogenital system
    • Wolffian duct, kidney
    • MH - covered in Kidney Development Lecture/Laboratory
Mesoderm-cartoon2.jpg

Lateral Plate Development

lateral plate
  • lying at the surrounding edge of he embryonic disc
  • a cavity begins in this week to form within the mesoderm itself

Mesoderm-cartoon3.jpgMesoderm-cartoon4.jpg

Intraembryonic Coelom

  • small spaces (vacuoles) begin appearing within the lateral plate mesoderm
  • enlarge forming a single cavity within the lateral plate mesoderm
    • divides lateral plate mesoderm into 2 parts at about day 18-19
  • this cavity is called the Intraembryonic Coelom
  • when the embryonic disc folds the intraembryonic coelom will form all 3 major body cavities:
  1. Pericardial
  2. Pleural
  3. Peritoneal

Coelom is a general term for a "cavity" and can lie within the embryo (intraembryonic) and outside the embryo (extra embryonic). Later anatomical spaces within the embryo and fetus can also be described as coeloms.

Mesoderm-cartoon4.jpg

Somatic Mesoderm

The intraembryonic coelom divides the lateral plate into 2 portions
  • closest to ectoderm
  • body wall osteogenic, chrondrogenic and fibrogenic
  • except ribs and scapula
Lateral plate somatic mesoderm cartoon.jpg

Lateral plate somatic mesoderm[1]

Splanchnic Mesoderm

  • lies closest to endoderm
  • prechordal splanchnic mesoderm - cardiac mesoderm
  • splanchnic mesoderm - smooth muscle of gastrointestinal tract (GIT) and blood vessels

Mesoderm-cartoon4.jpg

Stage 9 Dorsal Stage 9 Ventral
Carnegie Stages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | About Stages | Timeline

Somitogenesis

Stage
Days (approx)
Size
(mm)
Images
(not to scale)
Events
7
15 - 17
(week 3)
0.4
Link=Carnegie_stage_7
gastrulation, notochordal process
8
17 - 19
1.0 - 1.5
Link=Carnegie_stage_8
primitive pit, notochordal canal
9
19 - 21
1.5 - 2.5
Link=Carnegie_stage_9
Somite Number 1 - 3 neural folds, cardiac primordium, head fold
10
22 - 23
(week 4)
2 - 3.5
Link=Carnegie_stage_10
Somite Number 4 - 12 neural fold fuses
11
23 - 26
2.5 - 4.5
Link=Carnegie_stage_11
Somite Number 13 - 20 rostral neuropore closes
12
26 - 30
3 - 5
Link=Carnegie_stage_12
Somite Number 21 - 29 caudal neuropore closes
13
28 - 32
(week 5)
4 - 6
Link=Carnegie_stage_13
Somite Number 30 leg buds, lens placode, pharyngeal arches
Stage 13/14 shown in serial embryo sections series of Embryology Program

Stage14 sem1.jpg

Stage 14

Links: Somitogenesis
  1. Sheng G. (2015). The developmental basis of mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs). BMC Dev. Biol. , 15, 44. PMID: 26589542 DOI.


 2018 ANAT2341 - Timetable | Course Outline | Moodle | Tutorial 1 | Tutorial 2 | Tutorial 3

Labs: 1 Preimplantation and Implantation | 2 Reproductive Technology Revolution | 3 Group Projects | 4 GM manipulation mouse embryos | 5 Early chicken eggs | 6 Female reproductive tract | 7 Skin regeneration | 8 Vertebral development | 9 Organogenesis Lab | 10 Cardiac development | 11 Group projects | 12 Stem Cell Journal Club

Lectures: 1 Introduction | 2 Fertilization | 3 Week 1/2 | 4 Week 3 | 5 Ectoderm | 6 Placenta | 7 Mesoderm | 8 Endoderm | 9 Research Technology | 10 Cardiovascular | 11 Respiratory | 12 Neural crest | 13 Head | 14 Musculoskeletal | 15 Limb | 16 Renal | 17 Genital | 18 Endocrine | 19 Sensory | 20 Fetal | 21 Integumentary | 22 Birth | 23 Stem cells | 24 Revision

 Student Projects: Group Projects Information Project 1 | Project 3 | Project 4 | Project 5 | 2018 Test Student | Copyright


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Cite this page: Hill, M.A. (2024, March 19) Embryology Lecture - Mesoderm Development. Retrieved from https://embryology.med.unsw.edu.au/embryology/index.php/Lecture_-_Mesoderm_Development

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© Dr Mark Hill 2024, UNSW Embryology ISBN: 978 0 7334 2609 4 - UNSW CRICOS Provider Code No. 00098G