See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/328939730

Comparative Anatomy of the Vertebrates: Let’s Explore?

Presentation · November 2018

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.26266.49605/1

CITATIONS READS

0 5,365

1 author:

Ahmed Al-Imam
University of Baghdad
319 PUBLICATIONS   273 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Grants, Scholarships, and Awards View project

Data Science View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Ahmed Al-Imam on 26 November 2018.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

COMPARATIVE ANATOMY
OF THE VERTEBRATES:
LET’S EXPLORE?
DR. AHMED AL-IMAM
DEPARTMENT OF ANATOMY AND CELLULAR BIOLOGY,
COLLEGE OF MEDICINE, UNIVERSITY OF BAGHDAD, IRAQ
EARLY STAGES OF EMBRYOLOGY
• Fertilization
• Cleavage
• Gastrulation
• Determination of Axes (3)
• Somatization, etc.
• General Body Plan
• Determination of Fate of Cells
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF VERTEBRATES
• Bilateral symmetry
• Presence of notochord
• Pharynx with slits
• Dorsal tubular nervous system
• Well-developed vertebrae (interlocking, etc.)
• Post-anal (post-natal) tail
THE GENERAL BODY PLAN OF VERTEBRATES
• Head, Trunk, and Tail (Figure 1).
• Head: Cephalization and development of sensory organs, and
protective covering
• Trunk Somites: Mesenchymal masses on both sides of the
notochord
• Trunk Coelom: Body cavity b/t the gut and the body wall
• Trunk Visceral Organs: Heart-Pericardium, Lung-Pleura, and
Abdomen-Peritoneum.
• Tail: Somites, notochord, innervation, dorsal and ventral aortae
• Tail Functions: Defense and locomotion.
Figure 1. Sagittal
Section of Craniate
Embryo: General
Body Plan.
PHARYNX WITH SLITS
• Anamniotes (lower vertebrates) have gill slits
• Amniotes have gill slits ONLY in embryonic period (Figure 2
and 3)
• Karl Ernst Von Baer's Laws of Embryology
• Ectodermal pouches grows towards the animal’s surface
• Ectodermal grooves and clefts
Figure 2. One-Month Human Embryo.
Figure 3.
Derivatives of
the Pharynx:
6-7th Week
Embryo.
PHARYNGEAL (BRANCHIAL) ARCHES
• In tetrapod’s pharynx, the 1st slit becomes the auditory tube and
the cavity of the middle ear.
• The aortic arches (Figure 4 and 5) are housed by the pharyngeal
(branchial) arches
• The 1st arch – Mandibular and Maxillary arch
• The 2nd arch – Hyoid Arch
• Other arches are numerically-named
• Most vertebrates have 6 pairs arches
• One vestigial pair of arches? (Figure 6)
• Each arch has four structural components: skeletal element,
cartilage (1), mesodermal-mesenchymal component (2), nerve (3),
and a vessel (4).
Figure 4. The Aortic
Arches: Ventral View.
Figure 5. Aortic
Arches in Different
Species of Adult
Vertebrates.
Figure 6. The Dilemma of the 5th Pharyngeal Arch
THE NOTOCHORD
• The most primitive endo-skeletal structure (Figure 7).
• Jawless fish: elongated and enlarged
• Cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes): surrounded by
cartilaginous vertebrae
• Bony fish (Osteichthyes) and Amphibians: larger vertebrae
• Amniotes: almost lost
• Mammals: in b/t the vertebrae (nucleus pulposus) (Figure 8)
DORSAL NERVOUS SYSTEM
• CNS: Brain and spinal cord
• Anamniotes: 10 pairs of cranial nerves
• Amniotes: 12 pairs of cranial nerves (Accessory &
Hypoglossal)
• Vertebral column (the backbone) and post-anal tail
• Evolutionary Biology (Video 1 and 2).
Figure 7. The Notochord:
Electron Microscopy.
Figure 8. MRI of the Dorsal and Lumbosacral Spine.
Video 1. Formation of Body Cavities and Diaphragm
Video 2. Amphioxus to Vertebrate Body Plan.
 REFERENCES
1. Kent GC, Miller L. Comparative anatomy of the vertebrates. Dubuque, IA: Wm. C. Brown; 1997 Jan.
2. Masterton RB, Bitterman ME, Campbell CB, Hotton N, editors. Evolution of brain and behavior in vertebrates.
Routledge; 2018 Feb 19.
3. Diogo R, Molnar J. Comparative anatomy, evolution, and homologies of tetrapod hindlimb muscles, comparison with
forelimb muscles, and deconstruction of the forelimb‐hindlimb serial homology hypothesis. The Anatomical Record.
2014 Jun;297(6):1047-75.
4. Diogo R, Smith CM, Ziermann JM. Evolutionary developmental pathology and anthropology: A new field linking
development, comparative anatomy, human evolution, morphological variations and defects, and medicine.
Developmental Dynamics. 2015 Nov;244(11):1357-74.
5. Ziermann JM, Miyashita T, Diogo R. Cephalic muscles of Cyclostomes (hagfishes and lampreys) and Chondrichthyes
(sharks, rays and holocephalans): comparative anatomy and early evolution of the vertebrate head muscles.
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 2014 Nov 27;172(4):771-802.
6. Nieuwenhuys R, Hans J, Nicholson C. The central nervous system of vertebrates. Springer; 2014 Nov 14.
7. Diogo R, Kelly RG, Christiaen L, Levine M, Ziermann JM, Molnar JL, Noden DM, Tzahor E. A new heart for a new head
in vertebrate cardiopharyngeal evolution. Nature. 2015 Apr;520(7548):466.
8. Haendel MA, Balhoff JP, Bastian FB, Blackburn DC, Blake JA, Bradford Y, Comte A, Dahdul WM, Dececchi TA, Druzinsky
RE, Hayamizu TF. Unification of multi-species vertebrate anatomy ontologies for comparative biology in Uberon.
Journal of biomedical semantics. 2014 Dec;5(1):21.
 THANK YOU

View publication stats