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Neural plate
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A small patch of ectodermal tissue on the dorsal surface of the developing embryo
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Mesoderm layer
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An area that is consequently referred to as the organizer; the middle layer of embryonic cells
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Totipotent
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The ability to become any type of cell in the body if transplanted to the appropriate site
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Mutlipotent
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Each cell of the early neural plate still has the potential to develop into most types of mature nervous system cell, but it cannot normally develop into other kinds of cells
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Stem cells
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Cells that meet two specific criteria. They have a seemingly unlimited capacity for self-renewal and they have the ability to develop into different types of mature cells
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Neural tube
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The lips of the neural groove fuse to form this, and its inside becomes the cerebral ventricles and spinal canal
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Neural proliferation
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When the cells in the neural tube begin to increase greatly in number.
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Ventricular zone
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The region adjacent to the ventricle (fluid-filled center of the tube).
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Migration
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Once cells have been created through cell division in the ventricular zone of the neural tube, they migrate to the appropriate target location
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Radial migration
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Proceeds from the ventricular zone in a straight line outward toward the other wall of the tube
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Tangential migration
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Occurs at a right angle to radial migration or parallel to the tube's walls
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Somal translocation
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An extension grows from the developing cell in the general direction of the migration; the extension seems to explore the immediate environment for attractive and repulsive cues as it grows. Then, the cell body itself moves into and along the extending process, and trailing processes are retracted.
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Glia-mediated migration
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Once the period of neural proliferation is well underway and the walls of the neural tube are thickening, a temporary network of glial cells, called radial glial cells, appears in the developing neural tube. At this point, most cells engaging in radial migration do so by moving along the radial glial network.
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Radial glial cells
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A temporary network of glial cells that assist in glia-mediated migration.
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Inside-out pattern
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A radial pattern in which each wave of cortical cells migrates through the already formed lower layers of cortex before stopping.
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