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Carnegie Stage   Figure

Central cavity of an 8-cell embryo

Central cavity of an 8-cell embryo

TEM of the central cavity (CC) of a stage 2, 8-cell embryo in vitro, 72 hours post-insemination, (original magnification x2780). Five polyhedral-shaped blastomeres surround the cavity and have close contact along their radial margins leaving little intercellular space between them. A bleb of cytoplasm and some cellular debris are in the cavity. A collection of unreleased cortical granules is in one blastomere (arrowhead).

B = cytoplasmic bleb
M = mitochondria
N = nucleus
SS = subzonal space
V = vacuole
ZP = zona pellucida

From: Sathananthan et al., 1982. Reproduced with permission of the publisher, Elsevier.

Click on the picture to view the full-sized image.


Keywords: blastomere, central cavity, cortical granule(s), cytoplasm, eight-cell embryo, intercellular space, stage 2 embryo


Source: The Virtual Human Embryo.