Endoderm is one of the germ layers formed during animal embryogenesis. Cells migrating inward along the archenteron form the inner layer of the gastrula, which develops into the endoderm.

The endoderm consists at first of flattened cells, which subsequently become columnar. It forms the epithelial lining of the whole of the digestive tube excepting part of the mouth and pharynx and the terminal part of the rectum (which are lined by involutions of the ectoderm), the lining cells of all the glands which open into the digestive tube, including those of the liver and pancreas, the epithelium of the auditory tube and tympanic cavity, of the trachea, bronchi, and air cells of the lungs, of the urinary bladder and part of the urethra, and that which lines the follicles of the thyroid gland and thymus.

Production

The following graph represents the products produced by the endoderm.

See also

• Ectoderm
• Germ layer
• Histogenesis
• Mesoderm
• Organogenesis

Notes

References

• Evers, Christine A., Lisa Starr. Biology:Concepts and Applications. 6th ed. United States:Thomson, 2006. ISBN 0-534-46224-3.

Anatomy | Developmental biology | Gastrulation

Entoderm | Endodermo | Endodermo | Endoderme | Endoderm | Endoderma (zoologia) | Endoderm