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).
It is formed from neural folds that arise from the neural groove in a developing fetus.
In the 3rd week of pregnancy called gastrulation, specialized cells on the dorsal side of the fetus begin to change shape and form the neural tube.
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.
The neural tube forms the spinal cord and brain. Mistakes in the formation of these structures seems to be more common in folate deficiency. Women who may become pregnant are advised to take folate to prevent these birth defects.
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
The Epiderm
The neural tube
Neural Tube
Neural Tube Defect