Summary

The neural crest cells were faced during a long time as a part of the primitive neural tube related to the formation of peripheral nervous system. This concept has been changing during the last years, what motivate us to do a bibliographic revision about the theme.

Many authors’ studies, in many animals species, including human embryos, demonstrated, in a conclusive and definitive way, the great importance of neural crest cells in the formation of several human body structures. In this article, we comment the main researches that have changed the concepts about neural crest and we review its embriogenesis.