histogenesis

histogenesis, series of organized, integrated processes by which cells of the primary germ layers of an embryo differentiate and assume the characteristics of the tissues into which they will develop. Although the final form of the cells that compose a tissue may not be evident until the organ itself is well along in development, distinctive biochemical reactions, which are the signatures of histogenesis, can be detected much earlier.

Histogenesis can be detected at both the cellular and tissue level. The gradual conversion of an early mesoderm cell into a muscle cell is an example of histogenesis at the cellular level. Most often, however, single cells do not undergo histogenesis but change only when they are part of a larger group of cells acting at the tissue level, as when thousands of cells aggregate to form the tissue of the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas. It is this tissue that produces insulin. The transformation of a mass of undifferentiated cells into an organ is known as organogenesis (q.v.).