Morula

Introduction

Mouse morula stage development

(Latin, morula = mulberry) An early stage in post-fertilization development when cells have rapidly divided to produce a solid mass of cells (12-15 cells) with a "mulberry" appearance. This stage is followed by formation of a cavity in this cellular mass blastocyst stage. In humans, morula stage of development occurs during the first days of the first week following fertilization. This developmental stage is followed by formation of the blastocyst.

Links: Fertilization | Week 1 | Morula | Blastocyst

Some Recent Findings

Non-invasive imaging of human embryos before embryonic genome activation predicts development to the blastocyst stage "We report studies of preimplantation human embryo development that correlate time-lapse image analysis and gene expression profiling. By examining a large set of zygotes from in vitro fertilization (IVF), we find that success in progression to the blastocyst stage can be predicted with >93% sensitivity and specificity by measuring three dynamic, noninvasive imaging parameters by day 2 after fertilization, before embryonic genome activation (EGA)."