Axial mesoderm, or chordamesoderm, is the

mesoderm The mesoderm is the middle layer of the three germ layers that develops during gastrulation in the very early development of the embryo of most animals. The outer layer is the ectoderm, and the inner layer is the endoderm.Langman's Medical Emb ...

in the

embryo An embryo is an initial stage of development of a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male spe ...

that lies along the central axis under the neural tube. * will give rise to notochord * starts as the notochordal process, whose formation finishes at day 20 in humans. * important not only in forming the notochord itself but also in inducing development of the overlying ectoderm into the neural tube * will eventually induce the formation of vertebral bodies. * ventral floor of the notochordal process fuses with endoderm. * The notochord will form the nucleus pulposus of intervertebral discs. There is some discussion as to whether these cells contributed from the notochord are replaced by others from the adjacent mesoderm. It gives rise to the notochordal process, which later becomes the notochord.

References

External links

Diagrams at cornell.edu
Embryology Animal developmental biology {{Portal bar, Anatomy