The Female Reproductive System

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The female reproductive system consists of the paired ovaries and oviducts (or uterine tubes), the uterus, the vagina, and the external genitalia. This system produces the female gametes (oocytes), provides the environment for fertilization, and holds the embryo during its complete development through the fetal stage until birth. As with male gonads, the ovaries produce steroidal sex hormones that control organs of the reproductive system and influence other organs. Beginning at menarche, when the first menses occurs, the reproductive system undergoes monthly changes in structure and function, which are controlled by neurohormonal mechanisms. Menopause is a variably timed period during which the cyclic changes become irregular and eventually disappear. In the postmenopausal period the reproductive organs slowly involute. Although the mammary glands do not belong to the genital system, they are included here because they undergo changes directly connected to the functional state of the reproductive organs.

Greater OVARIES

Ovaries are almond-shaped bodies approximately three-cm long, one point five-cm wide, and one-cm thick. Each ovary is covered by a simple cuboidal epithelium, the surface (or germinal) epithelium, continuous with the mesothelium and overlying a layer of dense connective tissue capsule, the tunica albuginea,