Want this question answered?
Folic acid
Encephaloceles refers to defects in the development of a fetal structure called the neural tube. The tube fails to close completely during development of the fetus.
The neural tube is the part of the development of the central nervous system in a developing embryo. What is pretty amazing about this is that within the first 4 weeks of development from conception, the entire framework of the central nervous system will have finished forming! Around day 18, the neural plate appears at the midline of the thickening of the ectoderm, the outermost layer of the germinal sac. Essentially what happens over the next couple of days is that the neural plate forms a depression, which eventually is pushed down and separated from the original cell layer by the fusion of the neural crests, resulting in the formation of a neural tube - this is rather hard to explain without a proper diagram!
if measurement of neural tube is greater than 2.5mm indicates down syndrome
Neural tube.
The neural tube closes around the 28th day of gestation, so that would be at the end of the fourth week.
Nervous Tissue
In the embryo the neural tube forms the central nervous system in the fetus, which is the brain and spinal cord. The reason pregnant women are given folic acid supplementation is to help prevent neural tube defects, which can range from fairly benign all the way to anencephaly (where the baby is born without a brain).
The neural tube is the embryonic predecessor of the brain and spinal cord. Which means, most of what it "does" is develop into a brain and spinal cord. The neural tube is initially formed almost exclusively of stem and progenitor cells. Over time, these stem and progenitor cells adopt specific identities and begin to differentiate neurons and later glial cells and these cells begin forming neural circuits. By the time the neural tube has developed to a point where it is capable of carrying out rudimentary neurological functions, the nomenclature is generally changed to brain and spinal cord rather than neural tube.
Most women are able to work up until delivery. Illegal drugs and alcohol, and some antibiotics, like Augmentin, will effect the neural tube development, but not mother's exertion. good luck joymaker rn
The neural tube
Neural Tube