Introduction
Ventral body wall (VBW) defects are observed in 1 in 3000 births. The main types of defects include body wall dysplasia, gastroschisis, omphalocele and primary thoracoabdominoschisis. There is little evidence suggesting that genetic changes are associated with these defects. An important number of these occur as a result of exposure to chemical pollutants or radiation. In this project chick embryos exposed to cadmium were used as a model of VBW defect. The project aimed to identify when the ventral wall in chicks is fully closed and to investigate the migration of different cells and tissues in normal control embryos and compare it to embryos exposed to cadmium.