Female Reproductive System Histology

Question 1

What are the external organs of the female reproductive system?

Answer 1

AKA external genitalia; mons pubis, labia majora, labia minora, clitoris, external urethral orifice, and the vaginal orifice

Question 2

What are the internal organs of the female reproductive system?

Answer 2

Vagina, uterus, uterine tubes, ovaries, and the ligaments and supporting structures

Question 3

What are the endocrine productions from the ovaries?

Answer 3

Estrogens and progesterones; steroidogenesis

Question 4

Estrogens promote what?

Answer 4

Growth and maturation of internal and external sex organs, development of secondary female sex characteristics, and promote breast development

Question 5

Progesterones do what?

Answer 5

Prepare internal sex organs (primarily uterus) for pregnancy by promoting changes in endometrium; prepare mammary glands for lactation

Question 6

What is the exocrine secretion of the ovary?

Answer 6

A secondary oocyte

Question 7

Primordial germ cells differentiate in a female to form what?

Answer 7

oogonia

Question 8

Oogonia arrest in prophase 1 and are then called what?

Answer 8

Primary oocytes

Question 9

What is atresia?

Answer 9

The slow degeneration of primary oocytes starting at the fifth month of fetal life throughout the life of a woman

Question 10

How many oocytes are ovulated throughout a womans life?

Answer 10

350-400

Question 11

Ovarian follicles are found within what?

Answer 11

The cortex of the ovaries

Question 12

An ovarian follicle is composed of what?

Answer 12

An oocyte surrounded by one or more layers of epithelial cells

Question 13

The size of an ovarian follicle indicates what?

Answer 13

Developmental state of the oocyte

Question 14

What are the three basic types of ovarian follicles?

Answer 14

A.primordial follicles
B.growing follicles
C.Mature or graffian follicles

Question 15

What are the divisions of the growing follicles?

Answer 15

A.primary follicles
1.early or unilaminar primary follicles
2.late or multilaminar primary follicles
B.secondary (antral) follicles

Question 16

What is the theca folliculi?

Answer 16

(Follicular theca) is the sheath of connective tissue cells that develop from the stromal cells surrounding the developing follicle

Question 17

Where are theca folliculi found?

Answer 17

Just external to the basal lamina

Question 18

The theca folliculi differentiates into what two different parts?

Answer 18

1. theca interna

2. theca externa

Question 19

What does the theca interna do?

Answer 19

In response to LH these cells synthesize and secrete androgens (i.e. precursors of estrogen)

Question 20

What are the two cells of the corpus luteum?

Answer 20

1. granulosa lutein cells

2. theca lutein cells

Question 21

What do the granulosa lutein cells produce?

Answer 21

Progesterone

Question 22

What do the theca lutein cells produce?

Answer 22

Estrogens

Question 23

Starting with the primordial follicle and ending with the corpus albicans describe follicular growth.

Answer 23

Primordial follicle, early primary follicle, late primary follicle, secondary follicle, mature graffian follicle, ruptured follicle (releasing oocyte), corpus hemoragicum, corpus luteum, and corpus albicans

Question 24

Describe the walls of the uterine tubes?

Answer 24

AKA fallopian tubes or oviducts; the wall is folded mucosa with simple columnar epithelium, a thick muscularis (interwoven layers of smooth muscle), and serosa

Question 25

What are the two types of cells in the uterine tubes?

Answer 25

Ciliated cells and secratory cells (aka peg cells)

Question 26

Ciliated cells of the uterine tubes help with what?

Answer 26

Move oocyte towards uterus

Question 27

Secretory cells (peg cells) do what for the uterine tube?

Answer 27

These cells bulge into the lumen and produce nutritive fluid covering the epithelium

Question 28

What are the three layers of the uterus?

Answer 28

Perimetrium, myometrium and endometrium

Question 29

Describe the perimetrium.

Answer 29

This is the outer most layer of the uterus, either adventitia or serosa

Question 30

Describe the myometrium.

Answer 30

This is the middle and thickest layer of the uterus, bundles of smooth muscle separated by connective tissue containing many blood vessels; four poorly defined layers of smooth muscle

Question 31

Describe the endometrium.

Answer 31

Inner layer of simple columnar epithelium, with both ciliated and secretory cells, with an underlying lamina propria, contains uterine glands

Question 32

What are the two parts of the endometrium?

Answer 32

1. basal layer (stratum basal)-deepest layer
2. functional layer (stratum functional)- superficial layer; thickness changes influenced by the shifting levels of ovarian hormones and majority can be sloughed away monthly as the menstrual flow

Question 33

What is the cervix?

Answer 33

The narrow end of the uterus

Question 34

Is the epithelium of the cervix sloughed during menstruation?

Answer 34

No

Question 35

What type of glands are the cervical glands of the uterus?

Answer 35

Large, branched mucosal glands

Question 36

The cervix is a common site for what kind of changes?

Answer 36

Metaplastic

Question 37

The wall of the vaginal canal has what three things?

Answer 37

mucosa, muscular layer, and adventitia

Question 38

What does the mucosa of the vaginal canal consist of?

Answer 38

Nonkeratinized stratified squamous epithelium

Question 39

What are the muscular layers of the vaginal canal?

Answer 39

Two indistinct smooth muscle layers; inner circular and outer longitudinal

Question 40

What type of glands are mammary glands?

Answer 40

Modified tubuloalveolar apocrine sweat glands

Question 41

The production and secretion of milk is done via what methods?

Answer 41

Merocrine and apocrine types, however because there is little or no cytoplasm in breast milk the merocrine method for secretion is up for debate.