Embryology · General embryology: weeks 1 to 8
Neural crest cells and their derivatives !
- Embryonic structure
Cells born at the edges of the neural tube that travel the whole body to build nerves, pigment, facial bones and part of the heart.
Updated 2026-11-01
See it in 3D: Dorsal root ganglia · Sympathetic trunk · Left adrenal gland · Right adrenal gland · Thyroid gland · Skin
What it is
The neural crest is a population of ectodermal cells that forms at the edges of the neural folds, loses its junctions and migrates almost everywhere in the embryo. It is called the fourth germ layer for the range of tissues it builds: the peripheral nervous system, melanocytes, the adrenal medulla, the facial skeleton and the septum that divides the heart's outflow tract. Diseases from faulty migration or differentiation are called neurocristopathies.
Key facts
- Weeks 3–4: it leaves the neural folds by epithelial–mesenchymal transition as the tube closes.
- Cranial crest: face, pharyngeal arch cartilages, cranial nerve ganglia, C cells.
- Cardiac crest: the aorticopulmonary septum of the outflow tract.
- Trunk crest: dorsal root ganglia, sympathetic chain, adrenal medulla, Schwann cells, melanocytes.
- Vagal and sacral crest: enteric neurons (Meissner and Auerbach plexuses), which colonize the gut from cranial to caudal.
Structure
- Multipotent migrating cells that leave the border between neuroectoderm and surface ectoderm.
- They follow set routes: dorsolateral (under the skin, melanocytes) and ventral (through the sclerotome, ganglia and adrenal medulla).
What it becomes
- Sensory neurons of dorsal root and cranial nerve ganglia; sympathetic and parasympathetic ganglia.
- Schwann cells and satellite cells.
- Skin melanocytes; adrenal medulla (chromaffin cells).
- Pia mater and arachnoid.
- Bones and cartilage of the face and neck, odontoblasts.
- Thyroid C (parafollicular) cells; the heart's aorticopulmonary septum.
Markers
- SOX10
- PAX3
- FOXD3
- SNAI2
- RET
- EDNRB
Clinical notes
- Hirschsprung disease: crest cells fail to reach the distal colon; an aganglionic segment and obstruction in the newborn (RET gene).
- DiGeorge syndrome (22q11.2 deletion): crest of arches 3 and 4 fails: thymic hypoplasia, hypocalcemia and conotruncal heart defects.
- Conotruncal defects: tetralogy of Fallot, truncus arteriosus and transposition of the great arteries.
- Waardenburg syndrome: white forelock, heterochromia and hearing loss from faulty melanocytes; type IV adds Hirschsprung.
- Crest tumors: neuroblastoma and pheochromocytoma (adrenal medulla).
- Treacher Collins syndrome: failure of first-arch crest (malar and mandibular hypoplasia).
Test yourself
Think of the answer, then tap the question to see it.
Which newborn disease results from neural crest cells failing to colonize the distal colon?
Hirschsprung disease: an aganglionic segment that cannot relax and blocks the passage of stool.
Which embryonic structure gives rise to the adrenal medulla and melanocytes?
The neural crest.
Why does DiGeorge syndrome combine heart disease and hypocalcemia?
The neural crest contribution to arches 3 and 4 fails: the parathyroids, thymus and aorticopulmonary septum do not form properly.
Which heart defects are linked to the cardiac neural crest?
Conotruncal defects: tetralogy of Fallot, persistent truncus arteriosus and transposition of the great arteries.
See it in 3D
The structures of Durgical's 3D anatomy where it is found.
Related
- Neurulation and closure of the neural tube
- Germ-layer derivatives: ectoderm, mesoderm, endoderm
- Hirschsprung disease (congenital aganglionic megacolon)
- 22q11.2 deletion (DiGeorge): the third and fourth pouches
- Outflow tract: the spiral aorticopulmonary septum and neural crest
- Adrenal gland: cortex from mesoderm, medulla from neural crest
- First-arch syndromes: Treacher Collins and Pierre Robin sequence
- The pharyngeal apparatus: arches, pouches, clefts and membranes
Related conditions
- Hirschsprung disease
- DiGeorge syndrome (22q11.2 deletion syndrome)
- Phaeochromocytoma
- Tetralogy of Fallot
- Hearing loss (conductive and sensorineural, including sudden hearing loss)
Educational content on embryonic development; not a guide to prenatal diagnosis or to medicines in pregnancy and no substitute for a health professional's advice. No doses are given.
Sources: Langman's Medical Embryology, 13th ed., ch. 6: Third to Eighth Weeks: The Embryonic Period (Wolters Kluwer, 2015); Hirschsprung disease: MedlinePlus Genetics (MedlinePlus (U.S. National Library of Medicine), 2026); Waardenburg syndrome: MedlinePlus Genetics (MedlinePlus (U.S. National Library of Medicine), 2026).
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Representative model, for educational purposes only.