A mass of cells that develop into the body of the embryo and some extraembryonic tissues.
Comment:
[development-note] "This structure forms in the earliest steps of development, before implantation into the endometrium of the uterus has occurred.The ICM lies within the blastocyst cavity and is entirely surrounded by the single layer of cells called trophoblast. [Wikipedia:Inner_cell_mass]"; [homology-note] "A small sphere of cells known as the inner cell mass lies within the trophoblast (of all eutherian mammals).[well established][VHOG]" xsd:string {date_retrieved="2012-09-17", external_class="VHOG:0000742", ontology="VHOG", source="ISBN:978-0030223693 Liem KF, Bemis WE, Walker WF, Grande L, Functional Anatomy of the Vertebrates: An Evolutionary Perspective (2001) p.144", source="http://bgee.unil.ch/"}
Synonyms:
related_synonym:
ICM; early embryoblast; embryoblast; embryoblastus; massa cellularis interna; pluriblastus senior; pluriblast