Yolk sac

The yolk sac is a membranous sac attached to an embryo, formed by cells of the hypoblast layer of the bilaminar embryonic disc. This is alternatively called the umbilical vesicle by the Terminologia Embryologica (TE), though yolk sac is far more widely used. In humans, the yolk sac is important in early embryonic blood supply, and much of it is incorporated into the primordial gut during the fourth week of embryonic development. The yolk sac is the first element seen within the gestational sac during pregnancy, usually at 3 days gestation. The yolk sac is situated on the front (ventral) part of the embryo; it is lined by extra-embryonic endoderm, outside of which is a layer of extra-embryonic mesenchyme, derived from the epiblast. Blood is conveyed to the wall of the yolk sac by the primitive aorta and after circulating through a wide-meshed capillary plexus, is returned by the vitelline veins to the tubular heart of the embryo. This constitutes the vitelline circulation, which in humans serves as a location of haematopoiesis. Before the placenta is formed and can take over, the yolk sac provides nutrition and gas exchange between the mother and the developing embryo. At the end of the fourth week, the yolk sac presents the appearance of a small pear-shaped opening (traditionally called the umbilical vesicle), into the digestive tube by a long narrow tube, the vitelline duct. Rarely, the yolk sac can be seen in the afterbirth as a small, somewhat oval-shaped body whose diameter varies from 1 mm to 5 mm; it is situated between the amnion and the chorion and may lie on or at a varying distance from the placenta. There is no clinical significance to a residual external yolk sac. File:Gray24.svg|Diagram showing earliest observed stage of human ovum.1 - Amniotic cavity2 - Yolk-sac3 - Chorion File:Gray25.svg|Diagram illustrating early formation of allantois and differentiation of body-stalk.1 Amniotic cavity2 Body-stalk3 Allantois4 Yolk-sac5 Chorion File:Gray26.