Primordium (Noun)
Meaning
An organ in its earliest stage of development; the foundation for subsequent development.
Classification
Nouns denoting body parts.
Examples
- The embryonic kidney is a complex organ system that forms from a simple primordium of intermediate mesoderm.
- In many vertebrates, the heart primordium arises as a distinct group of cells that express cardiac transcription factors.
- The primordium of the neural tube eventually differentiates into the brain and spinal cord.
- Studies of Drosophila eye development have revealed the complex signaling pathways that pattern the eye primordium.
- During fetal development, the liver primordium grows from a population of cells in the endodermal foregut.