Cell Growth in Embryos: Is it Actively Inhibited?

  • Thread starter Thread starter sontag
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Cell Growth
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion centers on the phenomenon of cell growth in embryos, specifically whether the increase in cell number without a corresponding increase in overall size is due to active inhibition of cell growth. The scope includes biological processes and cellular mechanisms involved in embryonic development.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Technical explanation, Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants propose that embryos can increase cell number while maintaining size, suggesting a potential active inhibition of cell growth.
  • One participant clarifies that the discussion pertains to maintaining the embryo's size while increasing the number of cells, possibly through the addition of cell walls.
  • Another participant explains that the constant size of the embryo is attributed to rapid cell division, where the cell cycle is altered to eliminate the growth phases (G1 and G2), which may be feasible due to the egg being an oversized cell.
  • A later reply questions what mechanisms are responsible for stopping the G1 and G2 phases in this context.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express varying viewpoints on the mechanisms of cell growth and division in embryos, indicating that multiple competing views remain and the discussion is not resolved.

Contextual Notes

Limitations include assumptions about the role of the egg's size in cell cycle alterations and the lack of clarity on the specific mechanisms that inhibit the G1 and G2 phases.

sontag
Messages
42
Reaction score
0
An embryo can increase its cell number without increasing
its overall size.Is this because cell growth is actively inhibited?
 
Biology news on Phys.org
sontag said:
An embryo can increase its cell number without increasing
its overall size.Is this because cell growth is actively inhibited?
Do you mean increasing the size of the embryo, or decreasing the size of the cell?
 
I mean keeping the embryo the same size but increasing the cell number,
presumably just by increasing the number of cell walls.
 
The constant size of the embryo is due to the rapid division of the cells. The cell goes through a rapid a cell cycle which abolish the growth period between DNA replication steps (i.e. no G1 or G2 phase). The G1 and G2 phase can be abolish because the egg is an oversize cell.
 
What stops G1 and G2?
 

Similar threads

Medical Is there a contradiction between growth and membrane potential?
  • · Replies 10 ·
Replies
10
Views
2K
Human body growth in the absence of a brain
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
2K
2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
4K
Structural Questions about Memory B cells
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
2K
Very Nice Alligator Embryo Picture
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
3K
What are IC50 and CTC50 in cancer biology?
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
3K
First Human Embryos Edited in U.S.
  • · Replies 61 ·
3
Replies
61
Views
11K
LINE1 Transcripts Needed to Get Past 2 Cell Stage in Mammals
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
2K
Measuring off target mutations during CRISPR gene editing
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
5K
Nice news for a change? How to turn back your life 25 years
  • · Replies 15 ·
Replies
15
Views
2K