Histology 16

NSU
Spring 2009
Taken by: Gregory Rodocker
The Female Reproductive
System
 Composed of the
 2 ovaries
 2 oviducts
 The uterus
 The vagina
 External genitalia
The Ovaries
 Outermost germinal epithelium
 Simple squamous or cuboidal epithelium
 Tunica albuginea
 Dense CT
 Cortical region
 Background stroma containing follicles with
oocytes
 Medullary region
 Rich blood supply in loose CT
 No clear separation from cortical region
Embryonic and Fetal
development of the oocytes
 One Month
 Primordial germ cells migrate to the ovaries and
become oogonia.
 Second month
 Population at 600,000 oogonia
 Fifth month
 7 million oogonia that at the third month began
the first meiotic division arresting in prophase
 These are the primary oocytes which become
surrounded by follicular cells.
continued
 Atresia: oocytes diing off.
 Degenerative loss of oocytes
 Throughout childhood and then at
puberty only about 300,000 oocytes
remain
 At menopause only about 8,000 still
remain
Atritic Follicle
Follicular development
 Primordial follicles become
 Unilaminar primary follicles become
 Multilaminar primary follicles become
 Secondary or antral follicles become
 Mature, preovulatory or graafian
follicles
Preantral follicle
Follicular atresia
 Follicles and their contained oocytes
undergo atresia on an ongoing basis
 Dead follicles are phagocytosed
 While a continuous process, atresia is
particularly intense just after birth,
during puberty and pregnancy
 Times of intense hormonal changes
Control of cycle
Produces steroid precursors
Ovulation
 High LH in
response to high
estrogen from the
follicle cells
 Increased blood
flow to ovaries
 Local release of
PGs, histamine,
vasopressin and
collagenase,
Ovulation (cont’d)
 Granulosa cells
produce
hylauronidase and
loosen
 Increased follicular
fluid pressure and
weakened follicle
wall leads to
ovulation
Corpus luteum
 The follicle that has just ovulated
becomes a corpus luteum: “pale/white
body.”
 An endocrine gland that produces steroid
to maintain early development of the
embryo
 If fertilization does not occur, the corpus
luteum collapses and becomes a corpus
albicans
Oviducts
 Wall composed of three layers
 Inner mucosa
 Ciliated columnar cells
 Non-ciliated columnar secretory cells
 A middle muscularis of smooth muscle
 Inner circular or spiral
 Outer longitudinal
 An outer serosa of visceral peritoneum
Oviduct
Uterus
 Wall formed by three layers
 Outer serosa or adventitia
 Middle myometrium
 Smooth muscle in 4 poorly defined layers
 Shows hyperplastic and hypertrophic growth
during pregnancy. Also produce collagen at
this time returning to near normal after
pregnancy
 Inner endometrium
Endometrium
 Deeper basalis that remains
unchanged through cycles
 Apical functionalis that changes
drastically throughout the menstrual
cycling
Endometrium
Mammary Glands
 15-25 lobes separated from each other
by Dense CT and adipose tissue
 Each with own excretory lactiferous
duct
 Each nipple has from 15-25 duct
openings
Lactating mammary
gland
Lactating mammary gland
Mammary glands