Virginia Diewert
Introduction
Prof. Virginia Divert, Professor of Orthodontics, University of British Columbia.
Researcher interested in human face and palate development. A contributor to the Digital Embryology Consortium of the Perry-Arey-Milligan collection. She has also visited the Kyoto collection and annotated palate development in these embryos.
Analysis of human soft palate morphogenesis supports regional regulation of palatal fusion
J Anat. 2015 Oct;227(4):474-86. doi: 10.1111/joa.12365. Epub 2015 Aug 24.
Danescu A1, Mattson M1, Dool C1, Diewert VM1, Richman JM1.
Abstract
It is essential to complete palate closure at the correct time during fetal development, otherwise a serious malformation, cleft palate, will ensue. The steps in palate formation in humans take place between the 7th and 12th week and consist of outgrowth of palatal shelves from the paired maxillary prominences, reorientation of the shelves from vertical to horizontal, apposition of the medial surfaces, formation of a bilayered seam, degradation of the seam and bridging of mesenchyme. However, in the soft palate, the mechanism of closure is unclear. In previous studies it is possible to find support for both fusion and the alternative mechanism of merging. Here we densely sample the late embryonic-early fetal period between 54 and 74 days post-conception to determine the timing and mechanism of soft palate closure. We found the epithelial seam extends throughout the soft palates of 57-day specimens. Cytokeratin antibody staining detected the medial edge epithelium and distinguished clearly that cells in the midline retained their epithelial character. Compared with the hard palate, the epithelium is more rapidly degraded in the soft palate and only persists in the most posterior regions at 64 days. Our results are consistent with the soft palate following a developmentally more rapid program of fusion than the hard palate. Importantly, the two regions of the palate appear to be independently regulated and have their own internal clocks regulating the timing of seam removal. Considering data from human genetic and mouse studies, distinct anterior-posterior signaling mechanisms are likely to be at play in the human fetal palate. © 2015 Anatomical Society.
KEYWORDS: aponeurosis; craniofacial; hard palate; medial edge epithelium; palatal shelf; submucous cleft; tensor veli palatini; velopharyngeal
PMID 26299693
Publications
Search PubMed: Diewert VM (Author)
<pubmed>26299693</pubmed> <pubmed>19094181</pubmed> <pubmed>18456251</pubmed> <pubmed>18093101</pubmed> <pubmed>17499982</pubmed> <pubmed>17441205</pubmed> <pubmed>9134100</pubmed> <pubmed>8906120</pubmed> <pubmed>8675614</pubmed> <pubmed>8642057</pubmed> <pubmed>7774020</pubmed> <pubmed>8288731</pubmed> <pubmed>8227291</pubmed> <pubmed>8227289</pubmed> <pubmed>8227288</pubmed> <pubmed>8494279</pubmed> <pubmed>1517393</pubmed> <pubmed>1457684</pubmed> <pubmed>2353315</pubmed> <pubmed>2600973</pubmed> <pubmed>2914426</pubmed> <pubmed>3044881</pubmed> <pubmed>3182967</pubmed> <pubmed>3308120</pubmed> <pubmed>3788820</pubmed> <pubmed>3793861</pubmed> <pubmed>3491117</pubmed> <pubmed>3860013</pubmed> <pubmed>3903766</pubmed> <pubmed>6150558</pubmed> <pubmed>6665742</pubmed> <pubmed>6624691</pubmed> <pubmed>7183704</pubmed> <pubmed>7156139</pubmed> <pubmed>7336358</pubmed> <pubmed>7302872</pubmed> <pubmed>7212306</pubmed> <pubmed>6119797</pubmed> <pubmed>541242</pubmed> <pubmed>515963</pubmed> <pubmed>381268</pubmed> <pubmed>157558</pubmed> <pubmed>281896</pubmed> <pubmed>996777</pubmed> <pubmed>12692913</pubmed> <pubmed>4522822</pubmed> <pubmed>4558302</pubmed>
Cite this page: Hill, M.A. (2026, November 1) Embryology Virginia Diewert. Retrieved from https://embryology.med.unsw.edu.au/embryology/index.php/Virginia_Diewert
- © Dr Mark Hill 2026, UNSW Embryology ISBN: 978 0 7334 2609 4 - UNSW CRICOS Provider Code No. 00098G
