Menu
Home
People
Places
Arts
History
Plants & Animals
Science
Life & Culture
Technology
Reference.org
Brain vesicle
open-in-new
<p>Brain vesicles are the bulge-like enlargements of the early <a href="/facts/Embryogenesis/1lFY4EoW">development</a> of the <a href="/facts/Neural_tube/xv4a9Il7">neural tube</a> in <a href="/facts/Vertebrate/tT54FSTT">vertebrates</a>, which eventually give rise to the <a href="/facts/Brain/EKla9NkJ">brain</a>. </p><p>Vesicle formation begins shortly after the <a href="/facts/Rostral_(anatomical_term)/IpJ1fq2f">rostral</a> closure of the neural tube, at about embryonic day 9.0 in <a href="/facts/Mice/6m1X7m0g">mice</a>, or the fourth and fifth gestational week in <a href="/facts/Human/rlcTENsr">humans</a>. In <a href="/facts/Zebrafish/Nxg1F1mG">zebrafish</a> and <a href="/facts/Chicken/RD2eTd83">chicken</a> embryos, brain vesicles form by about 24 hours and 48 hours post-<a href="/facts/Fertilisation/g8u3UKzF">conception</a>, respectively. </p><p>Initially there are three primary brain vesicles: <a href="/facts/Prosencephalon/X3H1IqLq">prosencephalon</a> (i.e. <a href="/facts/Forebrain/X3H1IqLq">forebrain</a>), <a href="/facts/Mesencephalon/NXpE9WXV">mesencephalon</a> (i.e. <a href="/facts/Midbrain/NXpE9WXV">midbrain</a>) and <a href="/facts/Rhombencephalon/TetkheNT">rhombencephalon</a> (i.e. <a href="/facts/Hindbrain/TetkheNT">hindbrain</a>). These develop into five secondary brain vesicles – the prosencephalon is subdivided into the <a href="/facts/Telencephalon/zjpAVDgA">telencephalon</a> and <a href="/facts/Diencephalon/I31JJj2j">diencephalon</a>, and the rhombencephalon into the <a href="/facts/Metencephalon/l2BhINUh">metencephalon</a> and <a href="/facts/Myelencephalon/zcIpPYlg">myelencephalon</a>. During these early vesicle stages, the walls of the neural tube contain <a href="/facts/Neural_stem_cells/K9axftWw">neural stem cells</a> in a region called the <a href="/facts/Neuroepithelium/qhXkvTmJ">neuroepithelium</a> or <a href="/facts/Ventricular_zone/xpIVVtM4">ventricular zone</a>. These neural stem cells divide rapidly, driving growth of the early brain, but later, these stem cells begin to generate <a href="/facts/Neuron/G7CyTVdH">neurons</a> through the process of <a href="/facts/Neurogenesis/XSteTv8s">neurogenesis</a>. </p>