Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Book

Embryology, Gastrulation

Jeremy Muhr, Tafline C. Arbor  1 , Kristin M. Ackerman  2
In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2025 Jan.
.
Affiliations
Free Books & Documents
Book

Embryology, Gastrulation

Jeremy Muhr et al.
Free Books & Documents

Excerpt

Gastrulation is a critical process during week 3 of human development. Gastrulation is an early developmental process in which an embryo transforms from a one-dimensional layer of epithelial cells, a blastula, and reorganizes into a multilayered and multidimensional structure called the gastrula. In triploblastic organisms such as reptiles, avians, and mammals, gastrulation attains a three tissue-layered organism composed of endoderm, mesoderm, and ectoderm. Each germ layer corresponds to the development of specific primitive systems during organogenesis.

In addition to setting the embryo up for organ formation, gastrulation provides a mechanism to develop a multileveled body plan that demarcates anatomical axis formation. These axes are the dorsal/ventral axis, also termed the anterior/posterior or rostral/posterior axis, and the cranial/caudal or superior/inferior axis. Gastrulation also promotes the retention of global left and right symmetry and the loss of bilateral symmetry in specific organs such as the heart.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure: Jeremy Muhr declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

Disclosure: Tafline Arbor declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

Disclosure: Kristin Ackerman declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

References

    1. Zhang HT, Hiiragi T. Symmetry Breaking in the Mammalian Embryo. Annu Rev Cell Dev Biol. 2018 Oct 06;34:405-426. - PubMed
    1. Câmara DR, Kastelic JP, Thundathil JC. Role of the Na+/K+-ATPase ion pump in male reproduction and embryo development. Reprod Fertil Dev. 2017 Aug;29(8):1457-1467. - PubMed
    1. Marikawa Y, Alarcón VB. Establishment of trophectoderm and inner cell mass lineages in the mouse embryo. Mol Reprod Dev. 2009 Nov;76(11):1019-32. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bastida-Ruiz D, Yart L, Wuillemin C, Ribaux P, Morris N, Epiney M, Martinez de Tejada B, Cohen M. The fine-tuning of endoplasmic reticulum stress response and autophagy activation during trophoblast syncytialization. Cell Death Dis. 2019 Sep 09;10(9):651. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Niu Y, Sun N, Li C, Lei Y, Huang Z, Wu J, Si C, Dai X, Liu C, Wei J, Liu L, Feng S, Kang Y, Si W, Wang H, Zhang E, Zhao L, Li Z, Luo X, Cui G, Peng G, Izpisúa Belmonte JC, Ji W, Tan T. Dissecting primate early post-implantation development using long-term in vitro embryo culture. Science. 2019 Nov 15;366(6467) - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources