The female reproductive system consists of two ovaries, two uterine tubes, a uterus, a vagina, and external genitalia. The ovaries contain primordial follicles which mature into graafian follicles that release eggs. The uterine tubes transport eggs and allow for fertilization to occur. The uterus allows for implantation and fetal development. The vagina is the birth canal. The broad ligament supports the uterus and contains vessels and ligaments connecting the ovaries and uterus.

1. FEMALE
REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM

2. Female reproductive system
consists of
• Two ovaries, right and left.
• Two uterine tubes, right and left.
• One uterus
• One vagina
• External genitalia

3. • Ovaries are the primary sex organs. Here the
female gametes are formed.
• Uterine tubes transport mature male and female
gametes. These are sites where male and female
gametes unite to form a fertilized ovum or zygote.
Zygote is converted into morula and shifted to
uterine cavity.
• Uterus. Here morula is converted into blastocyst. It
is the site of implantation of blastocyst. This
blastocyst matures into fetus. Fetus grows and
remains in uterus for nine months.
• Vagina is the organ of copulation. The fetus is also
born through this canal.

7. • The broad ligament of the uterus is the
wide fold of peritoneum that connects the
sides of the uterus to the walls and floor of
the pelvis.

9. • The broad ligament may be divided into three
subcomponents
• Mesometrium - the mesentery of the uterus;
the largest portion of the broad ligament
• Mesosalpinx - the mesentery of the fallopian
tube
• Mesovarium - the mesentery of the ovaries.

10. • The contents of the broad ligament include
the following
Reproductive
• Uterine tubes
• ovary (some sources consider the ovary to
be on the broad ligament, but not in it.)

11. Vessels
• ovarian artery (in the suspensory ligament)
• uterine artery

12. • Ovarian artery supplies blood to ovary.
It arises from abdominal aorta below
the renal artery
• Uterine artery supplies blood to the
uterus in females

15. Ligaments
• Ovarian ligament. It is a fibrous ligament
that connects the ovary with lateral upper
angle of uterus
• Round ligament.
• Suspensory ligament. It is a fold
of peritoneum that extends out from the
ovary to the wall of the pelvis.

16. OVARY
• Ovaries are paired almond-shaped structures
situated one on each side of uterus close to the
lateral pelvic wall.
• They are attached to the posterior aspect of
broad ligament of uterus near its upper limit by
a double fold of peritoneum, behind and below
the lateral part of uterine tubes.
• This double fold of peritoneum is called
mesovarium.

17. • Ovaries, like testes, develop from genital
ridge.
• In embryonic and early fetal life the
ovaries are, like the testes, situated in the
lumbar region near the kidneys, but they
gradually descend into the lesser pelvis.

18. • Ovaries are grayish-pink in the living.
• The surface is smooth before regular
ovulation begins, but after the start of
reproductive life surface of the ovaries
become distorted by the scaring which
follows the degeneration of successive
corpora lutea.

19. • Each ovary is about 3 cm long, 1.5 cm wide and
1 cm thick.
• Ovarian position varies much in women who
have borne children; the ovaries are displaced in
the first pregnancy and usually never return to
their original location.
• the ovary of a nulliparous woman (who has not
yet borne children).

20. OVARY
• Each ovary is about 3 cm long, 1.5 cm wide and
1 cm thick.
• Each ovary occupies the ovarian fossa, on the
lateral pelvic wall, bounded anteriorly by the
obliterated umbilical artery and posteriorly by the
ureter and internal iliac artery.
• Attached to its upper, tubal extremity, are the
ovarian fimbria of the uterine tube. The uterine
(inferior) extremity is attached to the lateral
angle of the uterus by a rounded ovarian
ligament.

21. MICROSTRUCTURE
• Ovarian surface epithelium
• Tunica albuginea
• Ovarian Cortex
cellular connective tissue ovarian follicles
corpora lutea and albicans
• Medulla
vascular connective tissue

22. Ovarian surface epithelium
• The covering of the ovary is composed mainly
of cuboidal cells bearing microvilli, although
there is also a scattered group of flattened
epithelial cells with fewer microvilli, which may
represent cells reacting to epithelial injury
caused by ovulation. So before reproductive life
the surface epithelium is simple cuboidal
epithelium. As the reproductive life begins
patches of simple squamous epithelium
replace.

23. • This gives the ovary a dull gray surface,
contrasting with the shining, smooth
peritoneum of the mesovarium.
• A white line around the anterior or
mesovarian border usually marks the
transition between peritoneum and ovarian
epithelium.

24. • The epithelium appears to take an active
part in the repair of the ovarian surface
after ovulation by reforming the epithelial
rent and reconstituting the underlying
matrix.

25. • Surface epithelium is very delicate and
easily damaged by manipulation.
• About 85% of ovarian cancers arise from
neoplastic changes in the surface
epithelium.

27. Tunica albuginea
• Immediately beneath the epithelium, there
is a tough collagenous coat called tunica
albuginea.
• The mass of the ovary is divisible into
cortex and medulla.

28. Medulla
• The medulla forms the central core and
the cortex surrounds the medulla except at
the hilum.
• The hilum is on the uterine extremity and
is continuous with rounded ovarian
ligament.
• The hilum receives the vessels and
nerves.

29. Ovarian Cortex
• Cellular connective tissue.
• It contains primordial follicles only before
puberty.
• After puberty it contains the ovarian
follicles of various sizes and corpora lutea
and their degenerative remnants called
albicans.

30. • The follicles and their products are
embedded in a dense fibrocellular stroma
composed of interwoven, thin collagen
fibers and many fusiform, fibroblast-like or
mesenchymal cells arranged in
characteristic swirls.

31. Medulla.
• It is vascular connective tissue. It means
loose connective tissue with lot off
vessels. This central zone is highly
vascular, consisting of numerous veins
and spiral arteries set in a loose
connective tissue stroma, with many
elastin fibers, pericytes and some smooth
muscle fibers. The vessels enter the hilum
from the mesovarium. The medulla is
much more vascular than the cortex.

32. The Postmenopausal ovary
• With the change in hormonal state at the
menopause (usually in 45-55 years),
ovulation ceases and various microscopic
changes ensue within the ovarian tissues.
• The stroma becomes denser, the tunica
albuginea thickens and the ovarian
surface epithelium thins out.

33. • However, many follicles persist within the
cortex, some of them without oocytes, but
others apparently normal, providing the
possibility of ovulation if the hormonal
changes were to be reversed.
• Some abnormal follicles may become
cystic as age progresses. This is quite a
common feature in later years.

34. Vessels
• The ovaries and uterine tubes are supplied
by the ovarian arteries, which are
branches of the abdominal aorta.
• The veins emerge from the ovarian hila as
a pampiniform plexus, which form the
ovarian veins.
• The right ovarian vein opens in inferior
vena cava and left drains into left renal
vein.

36. • The pampiniform plexus is a network of
many small veins found in the human male
spermatic cord.
• It is formed by the union of
multiple spermatic veins from the back of
the testis and tributaries from
the epididymis.

38. • The spermatic cord is the name given to
the cord-like structure in males formed by
the vas deferens and surrounding tissue
that run from the abdomen down to
each testicle.

39. • Lymph vessels drain primarily to the
lumbo-aortic and pelvic lymph nodes,
although it is reported that after the
menopause the flow of lymph is reduced
and it drains mainly to the lumbo-aortic
nodes.

40. Nerves
• The innervation, is derived from the
ovarian plexuses.
• Postganglionic sympathetic,
parasympathetic fibers and autonomic
afferent fibers innervate ovaries, but little
is known of their actual distribution or
function, particularly in humans.

41. Primordial follicles
At birth, the cortex
contains a superficial
zone of primordial
follicles; these consist
of primary oocytes
(about 25 m in
diameter) surrounded
by a single layer of
flat follicular cells.
Primary oocyte is in
dictyotene phase.

42. • Many primordial follicles degenerate during
childhood. Their remnants are visible as atretic
follicles.
• After puberty, relatively small numbers of
primordial follicles undergo a series of
developmental changes.
• Only one follicle from either ovary comes to full
maturity and releases its oocyte (ovulation) for
transport into the uterine tube potentially for
fertilization.

43. Primary follicle
• primary oocyte, a
single layer of
cuboidal cells and
zona pellucida
• never present before
puberty
• in each menstrual
cycle 5-12 primordial
follicles start maturing

44. • The primary oocyte (still in dictyotene phase)
begins to increase in size, while the single
continuous layer of flattened follicular cells
surrounding it becomes the single continuous
layer of cuboidal follicular cells.
• The primary oocyte secretes a thick layer of
deeply staining acellular homogeneous
membrane of glycoproteins, between its surface
and the surrounding follicular cells. This
homogeneous membrane is called zona
pellucida.

45. • When the follicular cells have become cuboidal
and the zona pellucida has formed the follicle is
now known as primary follicle.
• Also small finger-like processes of the follicular
cells extend across the zona pellucida and
interdigitate with the microvilli of the primary
oocyte cell membrane. These processes are
thought to be important for the transport of
materials from the follicular cells to the oocyte.

46. Secondary follicle
follicular cells multiply
and proliferate and form
a stratified cuboidal
epithelium resting on a
basement membrane.
The cells constituting the
epithelium are now given
the name granulosa
cells. These cells are in
functional contact with
each other through gap
junctions.

47. Tertiary follicle
• A cavity or
antrum develops in
granulosa cells.

48. • The granulosa cells continue to proliferate
and multiply. As the mass of cells
continues to increase, spaces appear
between them. These spaces are filled
with clear fluid called liquor folliculi. The
fluid contains hyaluran, growth factors and
the hormonal secretions of the granulosa
cells. The follicle is now about 200 m.

49. • These spaces coalesce with one another
and a cavity or antrum is formed in such a
way that the primary oocyte, along with
some granulosa cells, is pushed to one
side. The primary oocyte and its
surrounding granulosa cells form a bump
in the antrum. This bump is known as
cumulus oophorus or ovaricus. The follicle
is now given the name tertiary follicle.

50. Gra’afian follicle
• The fluid continues to increase and the
follicle increases.
• The fully mature tertiary follicle is called
Gra’afian follicle.
• It forms a bump on the surface of the
ovary.

52. Atretic follicles.
• Atresia (ah-tre’ze-ah) [a neg. + Gr. tresis a
hold + -ia] congenital absence or closure
of a normal body orifice or tubular organ.
• Atretic (ah-tret’ik) [Gr. atretos not
perforated] spacing without an opening;
pertaining to or characterized by atresia.
• Atresia occurs at all stages of follicles.

53. • Primary oocytes and primordial follicles are
maximum in number at 5 months gestation.
They are nearly 7 million.
• They are reduced to about 2 million at birth.
• Postnatally, further degeneration occurs so that
by puberty only about 40,000 oocytes remain.
• Of the 40,000 oocytes remaining at puberty
only about 400 undergo ovulation during the
reproductive years.
• The rest, after being activated to the primary
follicle, degenerate before Gra’afian follicle at
any stage as atretic follicles.

54. UTERUS
HE created you from a single person (Adam), then from
that HE created his mate (wife Hawwa) and HE sent
down for you eight pairs of cattle, male and female. HE
shapes you in your mother’s wombs, giving you one
form after the other, under three dark veils. This is
ALLAH, your RAB: sovereignty is HIS: there is no ILAH
but HE. Whence are you, then, being turned away?
Az-Zumar. Surah 39. Ayah 6. Para 23.

55. The embryo passes from one stage of
development to another within three
covers which have been expressed in
Qur’an as three dark veils.
 These may be:
1. Abdominal wall
2. Uterine wall
3. Placenta with its chorionic and amniotic
membranes

56. Wall of uterus also consists of three layers:
1. Perimetrium
2. Myometrium
• stratum subvascularae inner longitudinal
• stratum vascularae middle circular
• stratum supravascularae
3. Endometrium
• superficial compact layer
• sponge layer
• basal layer

58. UTERINE TUBES
• Each tube is 10 cm long.
• Its medial end opens into the superior angle of
the uterine cavity.
• Its lateral end opens into the peritoneal cavity
close to the ovary.
• The uterine ostium or opening is very small, and
admits only a fine bristle, the opening into the
peritoneal cavity is named the abdominal ostium
and when its muscular wall is relaxed has a
diameter of about 3 mm.

60. • Abdominal opening is situated at the bottom of
trumpet-shaped expansion of uterine tube, the
infundibulum,
• the circumference of which is prolonged by a
varying number of irregular processes, called
fimbriae, and therefore this extremity of the tube
is also called fimbriated end.
• One fimbria is longer and more deeply grooved
than the others. It is closely applied to the tubal
extremity of the ovary and is named as ovarian
fimbria.

61. • Infundibulum leads to the ampullary part of
the tube which is thin walled and tortuous and
forms rather more than one-half of the tube.
The ampulla is succeeded by the isthmus,
which is rounded and cord like. The isthmus
constitutes approximately the medial one-third
of the tube.
• Then the uterine tube enters the wall of uterus,
runs through it and opens at the superior angle
of the cavity of the uterus. It is 1 cm long and is
named the uterine part or intramural part of
the uterine tube.

63. • Uterine tubes transmit ova from the
ovaries to the cavity of the uterus.
• They are also the sites of fertilization,
which occurs in the ampullary part.
• In the uterine tube, ova fertilized or non-
fertilized, travel medially towards the
uterus while sperms travel laterally from
the uterus towards the infundibulum.