Lecture slides, lecture notes and Q&A sessions from The Developing Brain course, module 1. Exam grade: 8,1. Most lectures contain both slides and notes. Lecture 12-14 (module 3) is notes only.
- This week: prenatal and early child brain development.
- This lecture: Normal embryonic development of the CNS and the changes in this process
that in many cases lead to gross malformations of the CNS.
- Later: disorders that become apparent during early childhood: autism.
- To understand these disorders -> cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate prenatal
development of the nervous system.
Structure of the lecture:
- Chronological developmental processes:
o Neural induction + early patterning.
o Cell differentiation.
o Cell migration.
o Axon outgrowth.
- Chronologic stages of prenatal development of the CNS.
- Exam → understand what happens during these different stages.
NEURAL INDUCTION + EARLY PATTERNING
- The initial development of the nervous system starts at a very early embryonic stage (1st
week) with the process of gastrulation.
- Gastrulation refers to the formation of the 3 germ layers:
- Each germ layer gives rise to different tissues of the human body.
- Ectoderm gives rise to the nervous system.
Early development (notes):
- Cell can still develop into anything.
- Early cell is omnipotent (= (of a deity) having unlimited power).
- From blastocyst, cell’s eventual function is decided, what they form into.
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, Gastrulation:
- Gastrulation = formation of 3 germ layers (3rd week after fertilization).
- Endoderm = urinary, digestive and respiratory systems.
- Mesoderm = skeletal, muscular and cardiovascular systems.
- Ectoderm = skin (epidermis) and nervous system.
See video for movie of germ layers: https://canvas.vu.nl/courses/64814/pages/early-brain-
development?module_item_id=821677
Gastrulation (notes):
- Within this clump, the gastrulation process forms 3 layers. Cells migrate through the cleft
(see slide).
- Endoderm, inner layer, lowest layer.
- Mesoderm, in the middle.
- Ectoderm, outer layer.
Neurulation:
- Neurulation = formal of neural tube (=thick layer of neural stem cells).
- Steps: neural plate in ectoderm → folding of neural plate → neural tube.
- Central to the development of the nervous system is the formation of the neural plate and
eventually the neural tube = neurulation.
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