Neuroembryology and Neurohistology -Sonic hedgehog, the Pax genes, bone

morphogenic proteins, transforming growth

Central Nervous System
-collect info from environment and body
through the sensory system
-receive the sensory information
-composed of: Brain and Spinal Cord
factor (dorsalin): influence the accurate
structural layout of the CNS
-Failure to close becomes neural tube defects –
folic acid deficiency, uptake carbazephim or
phenytoin

Peripheral Nervous System

-all neurons outside the spinal cord consisting of
cranial nerves and spinal nerves
-afferent: signal from body to brain (sensory)
-efferent: signal from brain to body (motor)

Autonomic Nervous System

-contains both CNS and PNS
-signals the heart, cardiac muscle, smooth
muscle and glands
-sympathetic nervous system: fight or flight
-parasympathetic: rest and digest

Primary Neurulation

Ectoderm
-shape of disk with cranial and caudal end
-Day 18: Cross section – 3 germ layers,
ectoderm, mesoderm and endoderm
-Third week: edges of the neural plate go
upward to be neural fold and neural groove
-Neural fold- neutral tubeCNS
-differentiate because of the influence of
notochord and paraxial mesoderm
-Neural groove become hollow
-Neural plate eventually become: neural crest –
migrate to become schwaan, meninges,
endocardial cushions, medulla

Neurulation
Spinal Cord Development
-caudal part of the neural tube
-Cranial/Rostral Neuropore: closes day 25
-as neural tube thicken, the neural canal
(fourth week) and develops into 3 vesicles –
becomes smaller until a central canal remains
forebrains, midbrain and hindbrain
Histology: neuroepithelium surrounding this
-Caudal neuropore: closes on day 27 (fourth
canal from pseudostratified columnar
week)
ependymal epithelium (cell layer surrounding
-neural tube becomes vascularized become
the ventricles) form neurons and macroglia
the brain and spinal cord
(astrocytes, oligodendrocytes) instead
-opening in the neural tube become the
ventricles
Multipolar neuron
-neurons are formed from neuroepithelial cells
when the ventricular zone begins to
differentiate into primordial neurons,
neuroblasts
-neuroblasts: form a mantle layer between the
ventricular and marginal zones (around the
neuroepithelial layer) that will eventually
become the gray matter of the spinal cord
-primordial supporting cells: glioblasts and
spongioblasts; differentiate after neuroblasts
because they will reside in the intermediate and
marginal zones and become astroblasts and
oligodendroblasts …> astrocytes and
oligodendrocytes.
-start as apolar neuroblasts and
differentiates to bipolar neuroblast
-becomes multipolar to adult neuron.
Once neuroblasts form, they lose the
ability to divide
-ependymal cells: remaining cells after
glioblasts and neuroblasts are no longer
produced
-line the central canal of the spinal cord
known as ependymal
-microglia: scattered throughout the gray and
white matter, mononuclear phagocytes that
develop in the bone marrow
Microglia
-Sulcus limitans: a long, thin groove on each
side of the spinal cord that separates the alar
dorsal plats from the basal ventral plates (both
lamina)
-alar plates: develop into dorsal gray
columns which contain afferent nuclei that form
the dorsal roots of the spinal nerves (dorsal
gray horn); dorsal median septum grows from
here
-form the sensory areas of the
spinal cord
-ventral plates and lateral plates:
formed from the cell bodies of the basal plates;
ventral mediam septum forms and develops a
deep groove called ventral median fissure
-form the motor areas of the
spinal cord
-intermediate horn: neurons
accumulated in the center of the dorsal
and ventral horn that contains neurons
from the sympathetic portion of the
ANS in T1 to T2 and L1 to L3
Spinal nerves and vertebral levels
Week 8: embryonic spinal cord spans the whole
vertebral canal and spinal nerves pass through
the intervertebral formina
-Due to different growth rates the
embryo grows faster than the cord and ends up
with a shorter caudal end than the length of the
embryo
-Lumbar vertebrae: spinal cord stops at the end,
around L2 or L3 for infants and L1 for adults.
-conus medullaris: nerve roots at the end of the
spinal cord
-cauda equine: nerve roots branching out
inferiorly
S2 sacral vertebra: dura and arachnoid maters
terminate at
Filum terminale: pia mater threadlike matter
that starts at the conus medullaris and ends at
the first coccygeal vertebra
Myelination
-from fetal period to postnatal first year
-motor roots myelinated before sensory
-Oligodendrocytes: form myelin sheath at the
spinal cord
-schwann (neurolemma) cells: form the myelin
sheath peripheral nerves; derived from the
plasma membranes of the neural crest
Found in: somatic motor (1) presynaptic
autonomic motor (2) postsynaptic autonomic
motor (3) somatic (4) visceral (5)
Schwann cells
-once myelination takes place, the tissue looks
white thus referred to as white matter
Brain Development
-develops from the section of the neural tube
cranial to the fourth pair of somites
-Vesicles in the neutral tube: prosencephalon,
mesencephalon, rhombencephalon (forebrain,
midbrain, hindbrain)
-fourth week: midbrain and cervical flexures are
formed
-fifth week: prosencephalon divides into
telencephalon and diencephalon
-rhombencephalon: divides into the
metencephalon and myelencephalon; this
forms the five secondary brain vesicles
-alar and basal plates are recognizable until
midbrain only
-sulcus limitans of the spinal cord: extends until
the midbrain and the forebrain meet
Hindbrain
-cervical flexure: marks the transition from the
hindbrain to the spinal cord
-pontine flexure: separates the hindbrain into
the rostral metencephalon -- pons and
cerebellum and caudal myelencephalon:
becomes the medulla oblongata
-fourth ventricle: cavity in the hindbrain that
continues to the central canal
-trigeminal nerve: develops here also
-gracile and cuneate nuclei – neuroblasts form
in the marginal zone of the myelencephalon;
their tracts instead to the dorsal spinal cord into
the medulla
-pyramids: contain the corticospinal tracts,
located in the ventral medulla
-lateral shift of alar plates towards the basal
plates in pontine flexure: sensory nuclei
develop laterally to the motor nuclei
Contains:
>general somatic efferents: contains
the hypoglossal nerve motor neurons
>Special visceral efferents: motor
neurons supplying muscles from
pharyngeal arches
>General visceral efferents: contain
motor neurons of the vagus and
glossopharyngeal nerves
>general visceral afferents: receiving
input from the viscera
>special visceral afferents: taste fibers
>general somatic afferents: receive info
from the surface of the face and head
>special somatic afferents: receive
auditory input
Choroid plexus and CSF
-pia mater: covers the ependymal roof of the
fourth ventricle
-tela choridea: formed from ependymal cells;
-choroid plexus: extension of the tela choridea
into the fourth ventricle when pia mater
proliferates; also found in the third ventricle
and medial walls of the lateral ventricles
-ependymal cells: responsible for
producing CSF
-2 lateral foramina of Luschka and 1 medial
foramen of Magendie : these 3 form in the
fourth ventricle, allowing CSF to flow from the
ventricles to the subarachnoid spaces
Midbrain
-cerebral aqueduct of Sylvius – ventricular
system of the mesencephalon narrows into this
aqueduct. It is a pathway that connects CSF to
flow between the third and fourth ventricles
-formation of two superior colliculi (visual
reflexes) and two inferior colliculi (auditory
reflexes): formed from alar plates that migrate
to the tectum of the mesencephalon
-red nuclei, oculomotor nuclei, trochlear
nuclei, reticular nuclei: formed from basal
plates of the mesencephalon
-substancia nigra: responsible for producing
dopamine
-cerebral peduncles: compromised of
corticopontine, cortocobulbar, corticospinal
tract
Forebrain
-optic nerves and retinas: develop from optic
vesicles that outgrows the side of the forebrain
-telencephalic vesicles: second diverticula of
the forebrain
-cerebral hemisphere lateral ventricles: arise
from the telencephalic vesicles
-third ventricle: forms from the cavities of the
telencephalon and diencephalon
-ventricular foramina of Monro: connects the
lateral ventricls
-lateral walls of the third ventricle: develop
into the thalamus, hypothalamus and
mammillary bodies and epithalamus
-pineal gland: developed from the midline of
the caudal part of the roof of the diencephalon
-anterior pituitary gland: comes from the
hypophysial diverticulum or rathke’s pouch,
oral ectoderm upgrowth
-rathke’s pouch: forms the glandular
component of the pituitary
-posterior pituitary: downgrowth of the
neuroectoderm from the diencephalon; forms
the neurohypophysial diverticulum>>
neurohypophysis, the nervous component of
the pituitary
Third week: growth of the hypophysial
diverticulum
Fifth week: grows into contact with the oral
epithelium and infundibulum
-Infundibulum, median eminence, pars Spinal bifida with menigomyelocoele – meniges
nervosa: derivative of neurophypophysial and spinal fold protrude, associated with
diverticulum hydrocephalus, inc alpha protein levels
-Adenohypophysis: hypophysial diverticulum Spinal bifida with myelochisis – no skin covering
disconnects with oral cavity and forms pars and severe type
anterior, pars intermedia, pars tuberalis https://www.kenhub.com/en/library/anatomy/
development-of-the-central-nervous-system
Sixth-seventh week: Corpus striatum begins to
cover the floor of the brain
-corticall walls of each hemisphere grow faster
than their floors resulting in C-shaped crown
-Temporal lobes and temporal ventricular
horns: caudal ends containing the lateral
ventricles that have turned ventrally and
rostrally
-Insular lobe: cortices that have grown over the
external surface of the corpus striatum and
located at the base of the lateral sulcus, the
sylvian fissure
-internal capsule: fiber that divides the corpus
striatum into caudate and lentiform nuclei
-first structure that connects the
cerebral cortex to the spinal cord
-commisure: white matter pathways through
fiber groups that allows different parts to
communicate
e.g. optic chiasm – ventral part of the
lamina terminalis that contains fiber
from medial retinas to optic tracts
anterior commissure: connects the
olfactory bulb to cortical regions
hippocampal commissure: connect the
hippocampal formations
corpus callosum: largest cerebral
commissure by birth, covers the roof of
the diencephalon and bride to left and
right cortices
-sulci and gyri: grooves and convolutions that
allows the brain to grow without expanding the
skull

Ancephaly - Cranial neuropore did not close

increase alpha fetal levels and polyhydramnions
Spinal bifida – caudal end did not close,
vertebral arch is open
Spinal bifida occulta – asymptomatic, small tuft
of hair, only affects vertebral arch, spinal cord
intact, no inc of alpha fetal levels