Yolk sac
The yolk sac is a membranous sac attached to an embryo, formed by cells of the hypoblast adjacent to the embryonic disk. This is alternatively called the umbilical vesicle by the Terminologia Embryologica (TE), though yolk sac is far more widely used. The yolk sac is important in early embryonic blood supply, and is incorporated into the primordial gut during the fourth week of development.
In humans
The yolk sac is the first element seen in the gestational sac during pregnancy, usually at 3 days gestation.
Identification of the gestational sac is a critical landmark in monitoring an early pregnancy, and can be reliably seen in human pregnancy using ultrasound.
The yolk sac is situated on the ventral aspect of the embryo; it is lined by extra-embryonic endoderm, outside of which is a layer of extra-embryonic mesenchyme, derived from the mesoderm.
Blood is conveyed to the wall of the yolk sac by the primitive aorta, and after circulating through a wide-meshed capillary plexus, is returned by the vitelline veins to the tubular heart of the embryo. This constitutes the vitelline circulation, and by means of it nutritive material is absorbed from the yolk sac and conveyed to the embryo.