Optic vesicles
Transverse section of head of chick embryo of forty-eight hours’ incubation. (Optic vesicle labeled at lower right.)
Human embryo about fifteen days old. Brain and heart represented from right side. Digestive tube and yolk sac in median section. (Optic vesicle labeled at center top.)
Latin	v. ophthalmica
Gray's	subject #224 1001
Carnegie stage	11
Dorlands/Elsevier	v_07/12855707

The eyes begin to develop as a pair of diverticula from the lateral aspects of the forebrain. These diverticula make their appearance before the closure of the anterior end of the neural tube; after the closure of the tube they are known as the optic vesicles.

They project toward the sides of the head, and the peripheral part of each expands to form a hollow bulb, while the proximal part remains narrow and constitutes the optic stalk.

Additional images

Head of chick embryo of about thirty-eight hours’ incubation, viewed from the ventral surface. X 26

External links

• eye-012 — Embryology at UNC
• Overview at vision.ca
• Overview at temple.edu

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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 As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.