The cloacal membrane is the membrane that covers the

embryonic cloaca The cloaca is a structure in the development of the urinary and reproductive organs. The hind-gut is at first prolonged backward into the body-stalk as the tube of the allantois; but, with the growth and flexure of the tail-end of the embryo, ...

during the

development of the urinary and reproductive organs The development of the urinary system begins during prenatal development, and relates to the development of the urogenital system – both the organs of the urinary system and the sex organs of the reproductive system. The development continues as ...

. It is formed by

ectoderm The ectoderm is one of the three primary germ layers formed in early embryonic development. It is the outermost layer, and is superficial to the mesoderm (the middle layer) and endoderm (the innermost layer). It emerges and originates from t ...

and

endoderm Endoderm is the innermost of the three primary germ layers in the very early embryo. The other two layers are the ectoderm (outside layer) and mesoderm (middle layer). Cells migrating inward along the archenteron form the inner layer of the gast ...

coming into contact with each other. As the human embryo grows and

caudal folding Caudal may refer to: Anatomy * Caudal (anatomical term) (from Latin ''cauda''; tail), used to describe how close something is to the trailing end of an organism * Caudal artery, the portion of the dorsal aorta of a vertebrate that passes into the ...

continues, the

urorectal septum The urorectal septum is an invagination of the cloaca. It divides it into a dorsal part (the hindgut) and a ventral part (the urogenital sinus). It invaginates from cranial to caudal, formed from the endodermal cloaca, and fuses with the cloacal ...

divides the cloaca into a ventral

urogenital sinus The urogenital sinus is a part of the human body only present in the development of the urinary and reproductive organs. It is the ventral part of the cloaca, formed after the cloaca separates from the anal canal during the fourth to seventh we ...

and dorsal

anorectal canal The anorectal canal is an embryonic structure in humans that develops from the posterior portion of the cloaca, after it is divided by the urorectal septum in the 6th week of embryonic development. The anterior portion becomes the urogenital sinu ...

. Before the urorectal septum has an opportunity to fuse with the cloacal membrane, the membrane ruptures, exposing the urogenital sinus and dorsal anorectal canal to the exterior. Later on, an ectodermal plug, the

anal membrane Anal may refer to: Related to the anus *Related to the anus of animals: ** Anal fin, in fish anatomy ** Anal vein, in insect anatomy ** Anal scale, in reptile anatomy *Related to the human anus: ** Anal sex, a type of sexual activity involvin ...

, forms to create the lower third of the rectum. It ruptures in the seventh week of gestation.

References

External links

* *
Diagram at unsw.edu.au

Embryology of urogenital system Embryology of digestive system {{developmental-biology-stub