THE FEMALE GENITAL ORGANS: INTERNAL GENITAL ORGANS - THE FALLOPIAN OR UTERINE TUBES

The FALLOPIAN or UTERINE TUBES are two in number, very slender and supple. One end of each tube is joined to the side of the uterus, while the other end opens into the abdominal cavity. Each fallopian tube is about 10 centimetres long. Its interior has numerous folds and tiny hair or cilia which move and flicker all the time and thus bring together the ovum and the male sperm in the uterine cavity and later transport the female egg to the womb.

The two OVARIES are homologous with the testes in the male. They are situated one on either side of the uterus in a depression called the ovarian fossa.

Each ovary is about 4 centimetres long, 2.5 centimetres wide, a little over one centimetre thick, and is a marvel of nature's packaging, containing at birth 500,000 fully formed eggs of which about 400 mature from puberty till menopause.

A FOLLICLE consists of the female egg surrounded by a layer of hormone-secreting cells and is enclosed in a thin outer-covering. Every month one follicle becomes bigger owing to hormonal secretion and ultimately the outer membrane bursts, discharging the egg into the funnel of the fallopian (uterine) tubes. The remnant of the ruptured follicle is converted into a yellow gland called CORPUS LUTEUM which secretes a hormone called progesterone. If pregnancy takes place, the corpus luteum is responsible for continuing the pregnancy and cessation of periods and ovulation.

If the egg remains unfertilized, the corpus Iuieum withers away after a period of 12 to 14 days, thus cutting off its hormone supply. The womb which has made all the preparation for an oncoming pregnancy now discards a part of its inner lining. This breakdown is the monthly period—menstruation—characterised by bleeding and shedding of the inner lining and lasts for four to five days.

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