2. Portions of successive myotomes commonly fuse to form a composite single muscle (the erector spinae and rectus abdominis muscles). The latter is formed by the fusion of the ventral…
The cells of the myotome, the mononucleated myoblasts, elongate in a direction parallel to the long axis of the embryo (see Plate 1-17) and undergo repeated mitotic divisions, subsequently fusing…
During vertebrate evolution, the head underwent changes related to the development of the special senses. The anterior end of the nerve cord became a brain, and the nerves passing to…
The dense concentration in cardiac muscle of orderly arrangements of interdigitating actin and myosin molecules, which could synchronously slide across each other throughout the atrial or ventricular muscle, resulted in…
The branchial arch skeleton is derived from the embryonic counterparts of the gill arches that support the mouth and pharynx of present-day adult fish and tailed amphibians. The most primitive…
MUSCLES Characteristically, all living cells, including protozoa and slime molds, contain the contractile proteins actin and myosin. Thus, actin and myosin are present in all the cells of the human…
Restriction of joint motion by permanent paralysis early in development can result in the loss of the joint cavity by having a permanent fusion occur between the apposed surfaces of…
During the first 3 or 4 years after birth, almost all the bones of the body contain hematopoietic marrow, although regression of hematopoiesis begins in the distal phalanges of the…
The clustering of sclerotomal cells to form the bodies of the vertebrae establishes intervertebral fissures that fill with mesenchymal cells to become the intervertebral discs (see Plate 1-3). The notochord…
Articular cartilage, especially that found in weightbearing joints, is uniquely structured to withstand tremendous abuse. It can resist crushing by static loads considerably greater than those required to break a…
