Cephalic flexure
Brain of human embryo of four and a half weeks, showing interior of fore-brain. (Cephalic flexure visible at center top.)
Gray's	subject #184 737

The cephalic flexure is the first flexure, or bend, of the embryonic brain; it appears in the region of the mid-brain. In human embryos it generally occurs at the end of the 3rd week/beginning of 4th.

By means of it the fore-brain is bent in a ventral direction around the anterior end of the notochord and fore-gut, with the result that the floor of the fore-brain comes to lie almost parallel with that of the hind-brain.

This flexure causes the mid-brain to become, for a time, the most prominent part of the brain, since its dorsal surface corresponds with the convexity of the curve. As a consequence, the cardiac plate, which was previously anterior to the forebrain, approximates its adult location in what will become the thoracic region.

[edit] External links

• Embryology at UNSW wwwpig/pigg/G7L
• Overview at nlm.nih.gov - online book
• Diagram at nlm.nih.gov - online book

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This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained within it may be outdated.

v • d • e Prenatal development/Mammalian development of nervous system (GA 9.733) General neural development/ neurulation/neurula Notochord · Neuroectoderm · Neural plate · Neural folds · Neural groove Neural crest (Cranial, Trunk, Cardiac) · Neural tube (Neuromere/Rhombomere, Cephalic flexure) Alar plate (sensory) · Basal plate (motor) Glioblast · Neuroblast note: mostly ecoderm, but mesoderm is precursor for epineurium, perineurium, and endoneurium central nervous system navs: anat/physio/dev, noncongen/congen/neoplasia, symptoms+signs/eponymous, proc