Lecture 3.

Embryology

Lecture 3

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 Embryology 

(from Greek "the unborn, embryo") is the

branch of biology that deals with the
development of an embryo from the
fertilization of the ovum to the fetus stage.

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 Embryonic and fetal development

 Human pregnancy averages 266 days (38

weeks from conception), or 40 weeks from the
start of the last menstrual cycle.
 Human gestation can be divided into three
trimesters.
 The first trimester is the time of the most
radical changes for both the mother and the
baby.

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 Embryonic and fetal development
First trimester
 The main period of oragnogenesis- the development of
the body organs.
 The heart begins beating by the fourth week.
 By the end of the 8th week all the major structures of the
adult are present in a rudimentary (basic/ elementary)
form. At this point the embryo is called fetus.
 The fetus is 5 cm long by the end of the first trimester.
 Because of the rapid organogensis, the embryo is most
sensitive to radiation and drugs that can result in birth
defects.

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 Embryonic and fetal development

second trimester
- Rapid growth of the fetus to about 30 cm and
is very active. The movement will be felt by
the mother.

Third trimester
- Rapid growth of the fetus to about 3-3.5 kg in
weight and 50 cm in length
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 Germ layers
• The 3 germ layers - the ectoderm, the mesoderm, and the entoderm
(endoderm) are in place at the end of gastrulation:
• THE ECTODERM gives rise to the central nervous system (the brain and
spinal cord); the peripheral nervous system; the sensory epithelia of the
eye, ear, and nose; the epidermis and its appendages (the nails and hair).

• THE MESODERM gives rise to connective tissue, cartilage, and bone;

striated and smooth muscles; the heart walls, blood and lymph vessels
and cells; the kidneys.

• THE ENTODERM gives rise to the epithelial lining of the gastrointestinal

and respiratory tracts; the parenchyma of the tonsils, the liver, the
thymus, the thyroid, the parathyroids, and the pancreas; the epithelial
lining of the urinary bladder and urethra; and the epithelial lining of the
tympanic cavity, tympanic antrum, and auditory tube
 Embryological
considerations
• The human ear develops from three separate sources
1. The inner ear is a neuro-ectodermal derivative developing
from the otic placode, forming the auditory vesicle or
otocycst.
- This subsequently develops into the membranous labyrinth,
the semicircular canals being well developed by the 6th week.
- The cochlea begins to develop at this stage and at 4 months is
almost in its adult form.
- The primitive otocyst carries with it a layer of mesoderm which
subsequently differentiates into otic capsule, initially
cartilage and subsequently bony capsule.

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Placodes
 Embryological
considerations
2. The auricle develops from the first visceral
cleft, an ectodermal furrow between the first
and second bronchial arches, the ear canal
developing as an invagination from the same
cleft. This ectodermal development takes
place mainly between the sixth and
fourteenth week of interauterine
development.

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Bronchial arches
 Embryological
considerations
3. The middle ear cleft, compromising the eustachian tube,
middle ear and mastoid antrum, develops from the
tubotympanic recess, an outpouching of the first
pharyngeal pouch.
- By the end of the second fetal month the eustachian tube
maybe identified, the ossicles may also be defined at this
stage, developing from the first and second branchial arch
mesoderm.
- The mastoid antrum is present by the seventh month but
the mastoid air cells do not develop until the end of the
fetal life.
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 Pre and perinatal causes of
hearing loss
Terminology

• Prenatal – Before child birth, existing or

happening during pregnancy but before
childbirth
• Perinatal – around the time of child birth
• Postnatal- after birth, occurring immediately
or soon after childbirth
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 Prenatal causes of hearing
loss
• Rubella
• Ototoxic/teratogenic drugs
• Pre-eclampsia/toxaemia
• Cytomegalovirus
• Infection
• Chromosomal abnormalities

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 Perinatal causes of hearing
loss
• Prematurity
• Hypoxia/fetal distress
• Jaundice

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 Genetic causes of prenatal and
perinatal hearing loss
• Deafness without other defects
• Deafness associated with other abnormalities
- Waardenburg’s
- Pendreds
- Ushers
- Klippel-feil
- Trecher Collins
- Chromosomal abnormalities
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 Postnatal causes of hearing loss

Genetic
- Familial SNHL
- Genetic syndromes with delayed onset of hearing loss

Non-genetic causes
- Meningitis
- Mumps
- Trauma
- Measles
- Ototoxic agents
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 Developmental abnormalities can
be grouped into
1. Abnormalities of the pinna varying from
minor degree of malformation to total
absence.
2. Abnormal development/absence (aplasia) of
the external auditory canal.
3. Abnormalities of the middle ear cleft,
including ossicular abnormalities
4. Inner ear defects.

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