During the first 12 hours after conception, the fertilized egg cell remains a single cell. After approximately 30 hours, it divides from 1 cell into 2 and 15 hours later, the 2 cells divide into 4. And at the end of 3 days, the fertilized egg cell has become a berry-like structure made up of 16 cells. This structure is called a morula, which is Latin for mulberry.

The cells continue to divide 8 or 9 days following conception into a blastocyst. Although it is only the size of a pinhead, the blastocyst is composed of hundreds of cells. The blastocyst is slowly carried by tiny hair-like projections in the fallopian tube called cilia toward the uterus. During the critically important process of implantation, it must attach itself to the uterine lining where it will be able to get nourishment from the mother's blood supply. If the blastocyst is unable to attach, the pregnancy will fail to survive.

Human embryogenesis is the process of cell division and cellular differentiation of the embryo that occurs during the early stages of development. In biological terms, human development entails growth from a one-celled zygote to an adult human being. Fertilisation occurs when the sperm cell successfully enters and fuses with an egg cell (ovum). The genetic material of the sperm and egg then combine to form a single cell called a zygote and the germinal stage of prenatal development commences. Embryogenesis covers the first eight weeks of development; at the beginning of the ninth week the embryo is termed a fetus. Human embryology is the study of this development during the first eight weeks after fertilisation. The normal period of gestation (pregnancy) is nine months or 38 weeks.

The germinal stage refers to the time from fertilization through the development of the early embryo until implantation is completed in the uterus. The germinal stage takes around 10 days. During this stage, the zygote begins to divide, in a process called cleavage. A blastocyst is then formed and implanted in the uterus. Embryogenesis continues with the next stage of gastrulation, when the three germ layers of the embryo form in a process called histogenesis, and the processes of neurulation and organogenesis follow.

In comparison to the embryo, the fetus has more recognizable external features and a more complete set of developing organs. The entire process of embryogenesis involves coordinated spatial and temporal changes in gene expression, cell growth and cellular differentiation. A nearly identical process occurs in other species, especially among chordates.

The beginning of the cleavage process is marked when the zygote divides through mitosis into two cells. This mitosis continues and the first two cells divide into four cells, then into eight cells and so on. Each division takes from 12 to 24 hours. The zygote is large compared to any other cell and undergoes cleavage without any overall increase in size. This means that with each successive subdivision, the ratio of nuclear to cytoplasmic material increases. Initially the dividing cells, called blastomeres (blastos Greek for sprout), are undifferentiated and aggregated into a sphere enclosed within the membrane of glycoproteins (termed the zona pellucida) of the ovum. When eight blastomeres have formed they begin to develop gap junctions, enabling them to develop in an integrated way and co-ordinate their response to physiological signals and environmental cues.

When the cells number around sixteen the solid sphere of cells within the zona pellucida is referred to as a morula. At this stage the cells start to bind firmly together in a process called compaction, and cleavage continues as cellular differentiation.

Cleavage itself is the first stage in blastulation, the process of forming the blastocyst. Cells differentiate into an outer layer of cells (collectively called the trophoblast) and an inner cell mass. With further compaction the individual outer blastomeres, the trophoblasts, become indistinguishable. They are still enclosed within the zona pellucida. This polarisation leaves a cavity, the blastocoel, creating a structure that is now termed the blastocyst. (In animals other than mammals, this is called the blastula.) The trophoblasts secrete fluid into the blastocoel. The resulting increase in size of the blastocyst causes it to hatch through the zona pellucida, which then disintegrates.

The inner cell mass will give rise to the embryo proper, the amnion, yolk sac and allantois, while the fetal part of the placenta will form from the outer trophoblast layer. The embryo plus its membranes is called the conceptus, and by this stage the conceptus has reached the uterus. As the syncytiotrophoblast starts to penetrate the uterine wall, the inner cell mass (embryoblast) also develops. The inner cell mass is the source of embryonic stem cells, which are pluripotent and can develop into any one of the three germ layer cells.

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