#  How Early-Stage Embryos Maintain Their Size 

 





September 02, 2019

 

 

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**Prof. L. Mahadevan** collaborated with the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) to discover what controls the size of an embryo. The study published in [Nature](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1309-x) found that embryos maintain an average size in early development through simple hydraulic pressure. During early stages of embryonic development, a fluid-filled cavity grows and expands. Using mouse embryos, researchers observed that the cavity repeated the process continuously which allowed the embryo to maintain a steady, average size throughout initial stages of development. SEAS features a [video of the process](https://www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2019/08/how-early-stage-embryos-maintain-their-size).

##### Image: 8-cell embryo, three days after fertilization (WikiCommons)



 

 

 



 

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