In human beings, fertilisation occurs inside the body of a female. When the ovum meets the sperm, it gets fertilised into a zygote. After fertilisation, the zygote fixes itself in the uterus and starts developing as an embryo. The period for which the embryo inside the body of a female is called gestation period.
After a period of around nine months,the embryo develops into a complete baby and comes out of the female body.The nutrition and oxygen for the growing embryo is provided by the blood of the mother through placenta and the excretory matter. carbon dioxide is given back to mother's to be given out.
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Fertilisation and Implantation
- During coitus, the semen is released into the vagina, passes through the cervix of the uterus and reaches the ampullary-isthmic junction of the fallopian tube.
- The ovum is also released into the junction for fertilisation to occur.
- The process of fusion of the sperm and the ovum is known as fertilisation.
- During fertilisation, the sperm induces changes in thezona pellucidaand blocks the entry of other sperms. This ensures that only one sperm fertilises an ovum.
- The enzymatic secretions of the acrosomes help the sperm enter the cytoplasm of the ovum.
- This causes the completion of meiotic division of the secondary oocyte, resulting in the formation of a haploid ovum (ootid) and a secondary polar body.
- Then, the haploid sperm nucleus fuses with the haploid nucleus of the ovum to form a diploidzygote.
- Mitosis starts as the zygote moves through the isthmus of the oviduct (cleavage) and forms 2, 4, 8, 16 daughter cells calledblastomeres.
- The 816 cell embryo is called amorula, which continues to divide to form theblastocyst. The morula moves further into the uterus.
- The cells in the blastocyst are arranged into an outertrophoblastand aninner cell mass.
- The trophoblast gets attached to the uterine endometrium, and the process is called implantation. This leads to pregnancy.
- The inner cell mass gets differentiated to form the embryo.
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