The dorsal hollow nerve cord develops into which components of the central nervous system?

• A. Brain and spinal cord
• B. Spinal cord only
• C. Peripheral nerves
• D. Enteric nervous system

Answer: (A)

The main idea here is that the dorsal hollow nerve cord forms the central nervous system. During development, the neural plate folds to make a neural tube; the front part becomes the brain and the back part becomes the spinal cord. This neural tube develops into the central nervous system, which is composed of the brain and spinal cord. Peripheral nerves and the enteric nervous system come from neural crest cells and other tissues and are not part of the central nervous system. So the brain along with the spinal cord is the correct outcome of the dorsal hollow nerve cord.