The neural tube is the part of the development of the central nervous system in a developing embryo. What is pretty amazing about this is that within the first 4 weeks of development from conception, the entire framework of the central nervous system will have finished forming! Around day 18, the neural plate appears at the midline of the thickening of the ectoderm, the outermost layer of the germinal sac. Essentially what happens over the next couple of days is that the neural plate forms a depression, which eventually is pushed down and separated from the original cell layer by the fusion of the neural crests, resulting in the formation of a neural tube - this is rather hard to explain without a proper diagram!
Folic acid
The ectoderm nearest the embryonic midline - often described as the neuroectoderm - does form into the neural tube, the embryonic structure from which the nervous system develops. However, more lateral ectoderm matures into skin and associated tissues.
Folic acid, a B vitamin, has been shown to help prevent neural tube defects when taken before and in early pregnancy.
That is correct. In case of the embryo, you have three layers, in initial period. The cells from the ectoderm enter the mesoderm to form the neural tube. So the neural tube is formed by invagination of the ectoderm in the mesoderm. Your nervous system is developed from this neural tube.In vertebrates, ectoderm gives rise to hair, skin, nails or hooves, the lens of the eye, the epithelia (surface, or lining, tissues) of sense organs, the nasal cavity, the sinuses, the mouth (including tooth enamel), the anal canal and nervous tissue, including the pituitary body.
neural plate
if measurement of neural tube is greater than 2.5mm indicates down syndrome
Neural tube.
The neural tube closes around the 28th day of gestation, so that would be at the end of the fourth week.
Nervous Tissue
In the embryo the neural tube forms the central nervous system in the fetus, which is the brain and spinal cord. The reason pregnant women are given folic acid supplementation is to help prevent neural tube defects, which can range from fairly benign all the way to anencephaly (where the baby is born without a brain).
The neural tube is the embryonic predecessor of the brain and spinal cord. Which means, most of what it "does" is develop into a brain and spinal cord. The neural tube is initially formed almost exclusively of stem and progenitor cells. Over time, these stem and progenitor cells adopt specific identities and begin to differentiate neurons and later glial cells and these cells begin forming neural circuits. By the time the neural tube has developed to a point where it is capable of carrying out rudimentary neurological functions, the nomenclature is generally changed to brain and spinal cord rather than neural tube.
The neural tube
Neural Tube
Neural Tube Defect
In the 3rd week of pregnancy called gastrulation, specialized cells on the dorsal side of the fetus begin to change shape and form the neural tube.
Myelodysplasia, or Neural Tube Defect
Folic acid