embryonic state, 1875, Modern Latin, from Greek blastos "sprout, germ" + diminutive ending -ula.
blastula blas·tu·la (blās'chə-lə)
n. pl. blas·tu·las or blas·tu·lae (-lē')
An early embryonic form produced by cleavage of a fertilized ovum and consisting of a spherical layer of cells surrounding a fluid-filled cavity.
| blastula (blās'chə-lə) Plural blastulas or blastulae (blās'chə-lē') An animal embryo at the stage immediately following the division of the fertilized egg cell, consisting of a ball-shaped layer of cells around a fluid-filled cavity known as a blastocoel. Compare gastrula. See also blastocyst. |
The stage of an embryo that consists of just over a hundred cells — a stage reached about one week after fertilization. At this stage the cells are just at the very beginning of cellular differentiation and are said to be totipotent (See totipotency).
Note: This is the stage of development where embryonic stems cells can be harvested for medical research.
hollow sphere of cells, or blastomeres, produced during the development of an embryo by repeated cleavage of a fertilized egg. The cells of the blastula form an epithelial (covering) layer, called the blastoderm, enclosing a fluid-filled cavity, the blastocoel. After the blastula develops, it undergoes transition to the gastrula (q.v.), a process called gastrulation. In organisms such as mammals, the earlier morula (q.v.), a berrylike cluster of cells, develops into a somewhat different form of blastula, the blastocyst (q.v.).