Embryology · Clinical Applications

Embryology · Basic Sciences

How it begins

From the single-celled zygote to the complete organism in eight weeks of organogenesis. This document integrates normal development with its pathological correlate: each morphogenetic error explained from its molecular and temporal mechanism to the congenital malformation it produces in the newborn.

What it covers

1. Time frame, terminology and periodization of development
2. · The problem of dating: age of fertilization vs. gestational age
3. · The three great stages
4. · Vocabulary of developmental pathology
5. Gametogenesis, meiosis and the genesis of aneuploidies
6. · Two opposing chronologies: spermatogenesis versus oogenesis
7. · Nondisjunction and clinical aneuploidies
8. Fertilization, segmentation and implantation
9. · Fertilization: the meeting in the tubal ampulla
10. · Segmentation: from the zygote to the blastocyst
11. · Twinship: chronology is everything
12. Bilaminar disc, trophoblast and trophoblastic disease
13. · The embryoblast becomes bilaminar
14. · The trophoblast: the invasive interface
15. · Gestational trophoblastic disease
16. Gastrulation: birth of the three germinative leaves
17. · The primitive line and cell migration
18. · Organization of the intraembryonic mesoderm
19. · The establishment of laterality (left-right axis)
20. Derived from the three germinative leaves
21. · ECTODERM "what is outside and the nervous system"
22. · MESODERM “support, movement, blood and urogenital viscera”
23. · ENDODERM «the lining of the tubes and their glands»
24. Body folding and principles of teratology
25. · Folding: from flat disc to cylindrical body
26. · Teratology: Wilson's five principles
27. · Critical periods: the vulnerability calendar
28. Neural tube and neural crest
29. · Primary neurulation
30. · Neural tube defects (NTD)
31. · The neural crest: the "fourth germinative leaf"
32. · Neurocristopathies
33. Pharyngeal apparatus: arches, bags and slits
34. · Architecture: a wall with three coverings
35. · Pharyngeal pouches (endoderm): glandular derivatives
36. · Clefts (ectoderm) and thyroid descent: cervical cysts
37. Cardiovascular system and fetal circulation
38. · From the cardiac tube to the four-chamber heart
39. · Section: four simultaneous fronts
40. · Aortic arches: derivatives that last
41. · Fetal circulation and its three shunts
42. · Congenital heart disease
43. Digestive system: rotations, recanalization and atresias
44. · The three segments and their irrigation
45. · Recanalization: the origin of luminal stenosis and atresia
46. · Stomach rotation
47. · The rotation of the midgut
48. · Wall defects and persistence of ducts
49. · Pancreas: two outlines, one gland
50. Respiratory system: pulmonary and surfactant phases
51. · The respiratory diverticulum and the tracheoesophageal septum
52. · The four phases of lung development
53. Uronogenital system and sexual differentiation
54. · Three successive kidneys
55. · Kidney rise and its accidents
56. · The indifferent period: two sets of conduits
57. Embryonic annexes: placenta, cord and amniotic fluid
58. · The placenta: an interface of two origins
59. · The umbilical cord
60. · Amniotic fluid
61. · Membranes and vestiges
62. Systematic teratology: infections, drugs and toxins
63. · Congenital infections — the acronym TORCH
64. · Drugs and teratogenic chemical agents
65. Prenatal diagnosis and assisted reproduction
66. · First trimester screening
67. · Second trimester screening — “quadruple test”
68. · Invasive diagnostic techniques
69. · Assisted reproduction techniques
70. Synthesis: embryological atlas of syndromes