Neural Tube vs Dorsal Nerve Cord: What's the Difference?

AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers on the distinction between the neural tube and the dorsal nerve cord, with participants exploring whether these terms are synonymous. The neural tube is recognized as the precursor to the central nervous system in chordates, while the dorsal nerve cord is described as a hollow structure that runs along the back of these organisms. References to scientific literature suggest that both terms can be used interchangeably, as they often refer to the same anatomical structure in the context of chordate development. However, there is some ambiguity regarding the terms "ventral neural tube" and "ventral nerve cord," with a distinction made between chordates and insects. The conversation emphasizes the importance of precise terminology in biological discussions, especially when comparing structures across different animal phyla.
gracy
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Difference between neural tube and dorsal nerve cord?
 
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About 5 letters?Seriously though, what do you think the difference is? We're not here to spoon-feed.
 
even though my question was small but that doesn't mean i want spoon feeding i have searched a lot but didn't get the answer all that i could find is difference between dorsal nerve cord and notocord but not neural tube i thought may be dorsal nerve cord and neural tube both same but wikipedia has two different pages for both of it and it is not written anywhere that both are same so i seek an answer to all the experts here.
 
I searched on http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed for papers using both terms and found these. I think they are synonyms.

http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/281/1794/20141729.long
(a) Traditional view
The prevailing view holds that the phylum Chordata consists of three subphyla: Urochordata (Tunicata), Cephalochordata and Vertebrata (figure 1a). All three groups are characterized by possession of a notochord, a dorsal, hollow neural tube (nerve cord), branchial slits, an endostyle, myotomes and a postanal tail.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/dvdy.1144/full
Neurulation occurs during the early embryogenesis of chordates, and it results in the formation of the neural tube, a dorsal hollow nerve cord that constitutes the rudiment of the entire adult central nervous system.
 
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you have written dorsal hollow neural tube and then in bracket nerve cord, does that mean both dorsal hollow nerve cord and neural tube are one and the same thing right?
 
gracy said:
you have written dorsal hollow neural tube and then in bracket nerve cord, does that mean both dorsal hollow nerve cord and neural tube are one and the same thing right?

Those are my quotes from the linked papers. I am just as much of a non-expert as you, but looking up these papers, it seems that they understand neural tube and dorsal nerve cord to be the same thing.

What I don't know is whether "ventral neural tube" and "ventral nerve cord" mean the same thing, for example is "ventral neural tube" the ventral portion of a "dorsal nerve cord" in chordates, or does it refer to a "ventral nerve cord" in insects? For example, Fig. 1 of http://mcb.berkeley.edu/courses/mcbc245/MCBC245PDFs/March29/Arendtreview.pdf says "ventral nerve cord in a prototypical insect" and "dorsal neural tube in a prototypical vertebrate". So there I would take it to mean that it would be unusual to say "ventral neural tube" to mean "ventral nerve cord", but it's common to say "dorsal neural tube" means "dorsal nerve cord" So I would still be careful about terminology.
 
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