Conception to birth activity
Visible Embryo website http://www.visembryo.com/
Particular points of interest in conception to birth include
Stage of Development
What significant development is happening?
1 day
A sperm can stay alive for up to 48 hours. It takes about ten hours to navigate the female productive track, moving up the vaginal canal, through the cervix, and into the fallopian tube where fertilization begins. Although 300 million sperm may enter the upper part of the vagina, only 1%, 3 million enter the uterus. The next step is the penetration of the zona pellucida, a strong membrane surrounding the oocyte. Only one sperm needs to bind with the protein receptors in the zona pellucida to start an enzyme reaction allowing the zona to be pierced. Penetration of the zona pellucida takes about twenty minutes.
Within 11 hours following fertilization, the oocyte has extruded a polar body with its extra chromosomes. The fusion of the oocyte and sperm nuclei marks the creation of the zygote and the end of fertilization.
3 days
The zygote now begins to cleave, with each division occurring into two cells called blastomeres. The zygote's first cell division begins a series of divisions, with each division occurring roughly every twenty hours. Each blastomere within the zona pellucida becomes smaller and smaller with each successive division.
When cell division generates about sixteen cells, the zygote becomes a morula (mulberry shaped). It leaves the fallopian tube and enters the uterine cavity three to four days after fertilization.
6 days
The weight of the blastocele expanding in the middle of the blastocyst against the firm wall of the zona pellucida induces "hatching" of the blastocyst from the zona around the sixth day after fertilization.
As the blastocyst enters the uterus free from the zona, the outer layer of trophoblast cells secrete an enzyme to erode the epithelial lining of the uterus and allow the blastocyst to implant.
Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is also
Particular points of interest in conception to birth include
Stage of Development
What significant development is happening?
1 day
A sperm can stay alive for up to 48 hours. It takes about ten hours to navigate the female productive track, moving up the vaginal canal, through the cervix, and into the fallopian tube where fertilization begins. Although 300 million sperm may enter the upper part of the vagina, only 1%, 3 million enter the uterus. The next step is the penetration of the zona pellucida, a strong membrane surrounding the oocyte. Only one sperm needs to bind with the protein receptors in the zona pellucida to start an enzyme reaction allowing the zona to be pierced. Penetration of the zona pellucida takes about twenty minutes.
Within 11 hours following fertilization, the oocyte has extruded a polar body with its extra chromosomes. The fusion of the oocyte and sperm nuclei marks the creation of the zygote and the end of fertilization.
3 days
The zygote now begins to cleave, with each division occurring into two cells called blastomeres. The zygote's first cell division begins a series of divisions, with each division occurring roughly every twenty hours. Each blastomere within the zona pellucida becomes smaller and smaller with each successive division.
When cell division generates about sixteen cells, the zygote becomes a morula (mulberry shaped). It leaves the fallopian tube and enters the uterine cavity three to four days after fertilization.
6 days
The weight of the blastocele expanding in the middle of the blastocyst against the firm wall of the zona pellucida induces "hatching" of the blastocyst from the zona around the sixth day after fertilization.
As the blastocyst enters the uterus free from the zona, the outer layer of trophoblast cells secrete an enzyme to erode the epithelial lining of the uterus and allow the blastocyst to implant.
Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is also