page_title: Proembryo
section_title: Ontological status
hierarchical_section_title: Proembryo / Ontological status
caption_attribution_description: English: Picture illustrates the ontological status of the preembryo, embryo, and fetus. Dr. Ford (1988) has suggested the term proembryo for this stage of development. It is the preimplantation, post fertilization stage in the human life cycle, where we have at least one new human being, but not yet an individual human being and thus not yet a person. From the formation of the primitive streak (shortly following the completion of implantation), individuality has been determined, however there is debate as to whether this individual human being is, or should be considered, a person.
context_page_description: Proembryo, or pro-embryo, in a flowering plant denotes the series of cells that are formed after fertilization within the ovule of a plant, before formation of the embryo. In human embryonic development the term is usually changed to pre-embryo to describe the conceptus before implantation in the uterus.
context_section_description: The illustration shows the ontological status of the preembryo, embryo, and fetus:
  (o) indicates the (natural &) standard reproductive and embryogenic pathway
  (mz) indicates all the possible pathways for a monozygotic twin (see Scott, 2002, Hall, 2003, for a review on monozygotic twinning)
  (/c) indicates a clone created by either SCNT or ANT (See Hurlbut, 2005, and section III. Pluripotent Stem Cells Derived from Biological Artifacts in the PCBE's Report on alternative sources of stem cells for a review of ANT))
  (ch) indicates all the possible pathways for a chimeric individual (see Charles E. Boklage, 2006, for a review on chimerism and twinning)
  (dz) indicates the pathway of a dizygotic twin
  (en) indicates an enucleated oocyte
  (m) indicates a hydatidiform mole
  (cm) indicates a complete hydatidiform mole
  (pm) indicates a partial hydatidiform mole, and
  (p) indicates parthenogenesis.
  (O) indicates an oocyte,
  (Z) indicates a zygote,
  (M) indicates a morula,
  (B) indicates a blastocyst,
  (E) indicates an embryo,
  (F) indicates a fetus,
  (I) indicates a live born individual person.
  (PM) indicates a partial hydatidiform mole,
  (CM) indicates a complete hydatidiform mole,
  (T) indicates a teratoma.
  The colors represent the maternal and paternal genetic contributions.
caption: The ontological status of the proembryo, embryo, and fetus
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