Question

Once a cell goes through the process of determination, what happens next as the cells develop in the embryo?

Answer 1

After determination, an embryonic cell undergoes differentiation; where it develops specialized structures and functions based on its assigned role. Cells are organized into three germ layers: ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm, which become the nervous system, muscle tissues, and internal organs respectively. The developing organism grows and complexifies through mitosis and further developmental processes.

Step-by-step explanation:

Development of Cells Post Determination

After a cell undergoes the process of determination in an embryo, it enters the stage of differentiation. This critical phase involves the cell beginning to exhibit the specialized structures and functions that it has been determined to assume. Cells in the growing embryo divide through mitosis, enabling the organism to both expand in size and increase in complexity.

During the early stages, the cells of the embryo organize into three primary germ layers known as the endoderm, mesoderm, and ectoderm. The ectoderm develops into the nervous system and skin, the mesoderm into muscle tissues and connective tissues, and the endoderm into various internal organs and glands.

The arrangement of cells into these germ layers is a result of cellular migration during gastrulation in the embryonic disc, and it sets the foundation for further organ development through processes such as neurulation and organogenesis. These layers expand and form the structures of the central nervous system, skeletal system, circulatory system, and more as the fetus begins to emerge from the earlier embryonic stages.

Answer 2

When a cell is differentiated that means it is no longer a ''blank canvas'', a pluripotent cell (like the stem cells).

Let's take a muscle cell as an example.

Before it is differentiated, it is just like all of the other stem cells.
But after the expression of genes specific for muscle cell and the resulting changes in structure and physiology of the cell, this cell becomes a muscle cell.
Afterward, the differentiated muscle cell communicates integrates with other muscle cells into the muscle tissue. The muscle tissue eventually forms organs like skeletal muscles, the heart and similar.