CHAPTER#06
DEVELOPMENT AND AGING
Development refers to the process by which an organism grows and
matures from a single cell into complex organism.
It starts from zygote and continue through out life.
Growth and development are parallel processes.
Growth is an increase in number of cells and ultimately increase in size
of an organism while in development organism changes from simple to
complex and acquire new structures and functions.
Fertilization
Conception (or fertilization) is when sperm and an egg join together.
It occurs in proximal part of oviduct.
Zygote will go under series of mitotic divisions.
About a week after the sperm has fertilized the egg, the zygote has
traveled to uterus.
It's now a growing cluster of about 100 cells called a blastocyst.
The blastocyst then attaches itself to the lining of your uterus (the
endometrium).
This attachment process is called implantation.
Layers of egg
Zona pellucida is a thick layer present around the plasma membrane
of oocyte.
Corona radiata is a thick outer membrane that is present outside the
zona pellucida made up of glycoproteins.
Cleavage
Cleavage, a series of mitotic divisions whereby the enormous volume
of egg cytoplasm is divided into numerous smaller, nucleated cells.
These cleavage-stage cells are called blastomeres.
In most species the rate of cell division and the placement of the
blastomeres with respect to one another is completely under the
control of the proteins and mRNAs stored in the oocyte by the mother.
Amount of yolk in egg impacts on the process of cleavage.
In animals such as birds and reptiles, the egg contain large amount of
yolk which make cleavage more difficult.
In eggs with moderate and little yolk, cleavage occurs throughout the
whole egg.
On the basis of amount of yolk, there are two types of cleavages
Holoblastic cleavage
Meroblastic cleavage
TYPES OF EGG ON THE BASIS OF YOLK
Ovum is the female gamete. lt stores food required for the entire
process of development in the form of yolk. lt has three important
functions:
1. lt supplies a haploid set of chromosomes to the future embryo.
2. lt contributes almost all cytoplasm to the zygote.
3. lt supplies food to the developing embryo.
Eggs are generally large than the sperms and average somatic cells.
The size of a mature egg depends on the amount of yolk present in it.
The smallest known egg is that of mouse (0.07mm); the birds possess
larger eggs.
Ostrich lays the largest egg having a diameter of about 85 mm.
Main types of eggs are
Telolecithal eggs
A type of egg having large amount of yolk concentrated at one pole of
egg.
Eggs of birds, reptiles and Monotremes (egg laying mammals) are
telolecithal.
Centrolecithal eggs
A type of egg contain large amount of yolk at its centre surrounded by
thin layer of cytoplasm.
Nucleus and organelles are located at periphery of egg.
Eggs of arthropods are centrolecithal.
Isolecithal eggs
A type of egg which contain small amount of yolk that is evenly
distributed through out the cytoplasm.
These cells are common in animals like mammals, fish, amphibian and
some invertebrates.
Mesolecithal eggs
Eggs which have moderate amount of yolk evenly distributed like
isolecithal.
Example includes many fishes and amphibians.
Morula and Blastula
During its journey to the uterus, the zygote undergoes five or six rapid
mitotic cell divisions.
Each daughter cell produced by cleavage is called a blastomere.
Approximately 3 days after fertilization, a solid mass of at least 60 cells
is called morula reaches to uterus.
It continues to divide, creating
a ball of approximately 100 cells,
and consuming nutritive
endometrial secretions called
uterine milk while the uterine
lining thickens.
The ball of now tightly bound
cells starts to secrete fluid and
organize themselves around a
fluid-filled cavity, the blastocoel
or segmentation cavity
At this stage, the embryo is referred to as a blastocyst.
Within Blastocyst, a group of cells forms into an inner cell mass
(embryoblast), which is fated to become the embryo.
The cells that form the outer shell are called trophoblasts.
These cells will develop into the chorion, the fetal portion of
the placenta (the organ of nutrient, waste, and gas exchange between
mother and the developing offspring).
Trophoblast cells also induce mother uterus to from maternal portion of
placenta called decidua.
The inner mass of embryonic cells is totipotent , each cell has the
potential to differentiate into any cell type in the human body.
As the blastocyst forms, the trophoblast excretes enzymes that begin
to degrade the zona pellucida.
In a process called “hatching,”
the embryo free from the zona pellucida in preparation for
implantation.
At the end of the first week, the blastocyst comes in contact with the
uterine wall and adheres to it, embedding itself in the uterine lining via
the trophoblast cells.
Thus begins the process of implantation, which signals the end of the
pre-embryonic stage of development.
The trophoblast secretes human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), a
hormone that directs the corpus luteum to survive, enlarge, and
continue producing progesterone and estrogen to suppress menses.
Implantation is complete by the middle of the second week.
Most of the time an embryo implants within the body of the uterus in
a location that can support growth and development.
However, in one to two percent of cases, the embryo implants either
outside the uterus (an ectopic pregnancy).
Inner cell mass arrange it into two cells layers
Upper layer is epiblast and lower layer is hypoblast.
epiblast cells divide and grows to form amniotic ectoderm and
embryonic epiblast (generate three germ layers)
Hypoblast cells divide to form embryonic endoderm which surround
embryonic sac
Gastrulation begins with the formation of the primitive streak on the
surface of the epiblast.
15- to a 16-day embryo, it is clearly visible as a narrow groove with
slightly bulging regions on either side.
The cephalic end of the streak, the primitive node, consists of a
slightly elevated area surrounding the small primitive pit.
Cells of the epiblast migrate toward the primitive streak.
Upon arrival in the region of the streak, they become flask-shaped,
detach from the epiblast, and slip beneath it.
Cells remaining in the epiblast then form ectoderm.
This inward movement is known as invagination.
Once the cells have invaginated, some displace the hypoblast, creating
the embryonic endoderm, and others come to lie between the epiblast
and newly created endoderm to form mesoderm.
Thus, the epiblast, through the process of gastrulation, is the source
of all of the germ layers, and cells in these layers will give rise to all of
the tissues and organs in the embryo.
Each of the three germ layers (ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm)
gives rise to specific tissues and organs:
Teeth
Eyes
Neurulation
A process in which the portion of ectoderm fold inward to
differentiate into the brain and the spinal cord.
During third week of development, the ectoderm thickens along the
mid line forming neural plate.
Cells located in the outer germ layer (ectoderm) differentiate to form
a neural plate.
The neural plate then bends dorsally, folding inwards to form a neural
groove.
The infolded groove closes off and separates to form the neural tube.
The neural tube will elongate as the embryo develops and its anterior
portion develops into brain and posterior develop in spinal cord.
The cells of the neural crest will differentiate to form the components
of the peripheral nervous system.
The neural crest is a collection of multipotent stem cells located at
the side of the neural tube proximal to the epidermal layer after
neurulation.
These cells migrate throughout the embryo and give rise to a large
range of cell types and can generate both ectodermal cell types, such as
neurons, and mesodermal cell types, such as muscle.
