1 CHAPTER 2: Cellular and molecular mechanisms in embryonic development

CHAPTER 2:
Cellular and molecular mechanisms in embryonic
development
the fertilized egg or zygote – gives rise to first an embryo, then a fetus

Intra-uterine Development is often Divided into:

Embryonic period, where all major organ systems are established

Fetal period, which consists primarily of growth and organ refinement

The embryonic period is initiated at fertilization when the oocyte, covered by the zona pellucida, is
penetrated by the fertilizing spermatozoon resulting in the formation of the one-celled zygote, in which
a maternal pronucleus (from the oocyte) and a paternal pronucleus (from the spermatozoon) develop.

At the first post fertilization mitosis the zygote develops into the 2-cell embryo. These two, and
subsequent early embryonic cells, are for a period referred to as blastomeres