STRUCTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL ORGANIZATION OF THE FEMALE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM Flashcards
What consists of the ovaries, uterine (fallopian) tubes, or (oviducts), the uterus, the vagina, and external organs that include the vulva or pudendum?
Female reproductive system
True or False
The mammary glands are also considered part of the female reproductive system
True
What are the paired organs that produce secondary oocytes and hormones?
Ovaries
What are cells that develop into mature ova, or eggs, following fertilization?
Oocytes
What are the hormones produced by the ovaries?
- progesterone
- estrogens
- inhibin
- relaxin
What arise from the same embryonic tissue as the testes, and they are the size and shape of unshelled almonds?
ovaries
What is the layer of simple epithelium (low cuboidal or squamous) that covers the surface of the ovary?
germinal epithelium
What is a region of dense connective tissue that contains ovarian follicles and lies deep to the germinal epithelium?
ovarian cortex
True or False
Each ovarian follicle (folliculus little bag) consists of an oocyte and a variable number of surrounding cells that nourish the developing oocyte and begin to secrete estrogens as the follicle grows larger
True
The ovarian follicle enlarges until it is a mature (graafian) follicle, a large, fluid-filled follicle that is preparing to rupture and expel a what?
Secondary oocyte
The remnants of the ovulated follicle develops into a what?
Corpus luteum
The corpus luteum, also know as the what, produces progesterone, estrogens, relaxin, and inhibin?
The yellow body
After the corpus luteum has produced the hormones, it begins to degenerate and turn into a fibrous tissue called a what?
Corpus albicans (white body)
What is the region deep to the ovarian cortex that consists of loose connective tissue and contain blood vessels, lymphatic vessels, and nerves?
Ovarian medulla
Females have what that extend laterally from the uterus and transport secondary oocytes from the ovaries to the uterus?
two uterine (fallopian) tubes
What is the open funnel shaped end of each fallopian tube that lies close to the ovary but is open to the pelvic cavity?
infundibulum
From the infundibulum, the uterine tubes extend medially, attaching where?
upper and outer corners of the uterus
After ovulation, local currents produced by the movements of the fimbriae, which surround the surface of the mature follicle just before ovulation occurs, sweep the ____ into the ____
- secondary oocyte
2. uterine tube
True or False
The oocyte is moved along the tube by cilia in the tube’s mucous lining and peristaltic contraction of its smooth muscle layer
True
Where is the usual site for fertilization of a secondary oocyte?
uterine tube
Fertilization may occur any time up to about ___hours after ovulation
24hrs
Fertilized ovum (zygote) descends into the uterus within how many days?
7 days
Unfertilized secondary oocytes disintegrate
What serves as part of the pathway for sperm deposited in the vagina to reach the uterine tubes?
uterus
What serves as the sites of implantation of a fertilized ovum, development of the fetus during pregnancy and labor?
uterus
What is situated between the urinary bladder and the rectum and is shaped like an inverted pear
uterus
What is the dome shaped portion of the uterus that is superior to the uterine tubes?
fundus
What is the tapering central portion of the uterus?
body
What is the narrow portion of the uterus opening into the vagina?
cervix
What are the parts of the uterus?
- fundus
- body
- cervix
The interior of the body of the uterus is called what?
uterine cavity
What is the middle muscular layer of the uterus that consists of smooth muscle and forms the bulk of the uterine wall?
myometrium
What is the innermost part of the uterine wall that is a mucus membrane that nourishes a growing fetus or is shed each month during menstruation if fertilization does not occur?
endometrium
The endometrium contains many what whose secretions nourish sperm and the zygote?
endometrial glands
What is a tubular canal that extends from the exterior of the body to the uterine cervix?
vagina
What is the receptacle for the penis during sexual intercourse, the outlet for menstrual flow, and the passage way for childbirth?
vagina
What is the recess that surrounds the cervix?
fornix
The mucosa of the vagina contains large stores of what, the decomposition of which produces organic acids?
glycogen
What is the thin fold of mucous membrane that partially covers the vaginal orifice (vaginal opening)? (virgins)
Hymen
What is the diamond-shaped area between the thighs and buttocks of both males and females that contain the external genitals and anus?
Perineum (gooch, taint, etc.)
The terms vulva, or pedendum, refers to what?
external genitals of the female
What is known as an elevation of adipose tissue covered by coarse pubic hair, which cushions the pubic symphisis?
mons pubis
From the mons pubis, two longitudinal folds of skin, known as the what extend down and back?
Labia majora (singular is labia majus)
True or False
The labia majora develop from the same embryonic tissue that the scrotum develops from in males
True
True or False
The labia majora contain adipose tissue sebaceous (oil) and sudoriferous (sweat) glands
true
What are the two folds of skin located medial to the labia majora?
labia minora
What is a small, cylindrical mass of erectile tissue and nerves that is located at the anterior junction of the labia minora?
clitoris
What is the region between the labia minora?
vestibule
These are all within what?
- hymen (if present)
- vaginal orifice
- external urethral orifice
- openings of the ducts of the paraurethral glands
Vestibule
What do paraurethral glands (skene glands) secrete?
mucus
What are located on either side of the vaginal orifice, which produce a small quantity of mucus during sexual arousal and intercourse that adds to cervical mucus and provides lubrication?
Greater vestibular glands (bartholin glands)
What glands are located in the breasts and are modified sudoriferous (sweat) glands that produce milk?
mammory glands
What muscles do the breasts lie over and are attached to them by a layer of connective tissue?
- Pectoralis major
2. Serratus anterior
Each breast has one pigmented projection called what?
Nipple
What is the circular pigmented area of skin surrounding the nipple?
areola
Within each mammary gland there are how many lobes?
15-20
The lobes within the mammary glands are arranged radially and separated by adipose tissue and strands of connective tissue called _____ of the breast, which supports the breast?
Suspensory ligaments of the breast (Cooper’s ligaments)
At the onset of puberty what hormones influence the development of female breasts?
estrogens and progesterone
The functions of the mammary glands are the synthesis, secretion, and ejection of milk, these functions are known as what?
Lactation
associated with pregnancy and childbirth
Milk production is stimulated largely by what hormone from the posterior pituitary?
prolactin
The ejection of milk is stimulated by what hormone, which is released from the posterior pituitary in responce to the sucking of an infant on the mother’s nipple?
oxytocin
During their reproductive years, non-pregnant females normally exhibit cyclical changes in the ___ and ____
Ovaries and uterus
Ovarian and Uterine Cycle
Each cycle takes about a month and involves both ___ and the preparation of the uterus to recieve a _____.
- Oogenesis
2. fertilized ovum
What is the formation and development of gametes in females?
Oogenesis
Hormones secreted from where control the main events of oogenesis?
- Hypothalamus
- Anterior pituitary
- Ovaries
____ released by the ovaries control the uterine (menstrual) cycle, a concurrent series of changes in the _____ of the uterus to prepare it for the arrival of a fertilized ovum that will develop there until birth
- steroid hormones
2. endometrium
What happens if fertilization does not occur?
- ovarian hormone levels decrease
a. causes part of the endometrium to slough off
The general term ______ encompasses the:
- ovarian and uterine cycles
- hormonals changes that regulates them
- related cyclical changes in breasts and cervix
female reproductive cycle
What hormone secreted by the hypothalamus controls the ovarian and uterine cycles?
Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH)
GnRH stimulates the release of what hormones from the anterior pituitary?
- Follicle stimulating hormone (FSH)
2. Luteinizing hormone (LH)
What initiates follicular growth and secretion of estrogens by the growing follicles?
FSH
What hormone stimulates the further development of ovarian follicles and their full secretion of estrogens?
LH
Female reproductive cycle
At the mid-cycle, what hormone triggers ovulation and then promotes formation of the corpus luteum
LH
Stimulated by LH, what produces and secretes estrogens, progesterone, relaxin, and inhibin?
corpus luteum
What promotes the development and maintenance of female reproductive structures, feminine secondary sex characteristics, and the mammary glands?
Estrogens
True or False
Progesterone stimulates protein synthesis, acting together with insulin-like growth factors, insulin, and thyroid hormones
False
Estrogens stimulate protein synthesis, acting together with insulin-like growth factors, insulin, and thyroid hormones
Can estrogens lower blood cholesterol?
Yes
This is probably the reason that women under the age of 50 have a much lower risk of coronary artery disease than men of comparable age do
_____, secreted mainly by cells of the corpus luteum, acts together with estrogens to prepare and then maintain the ____ for implantation of a fertilized ovum and to prepare the mammary glands for milk secretion
- Progesterone
2. Endometrium
A small quantity of relaxin, produced by the corpus luteum during each monthly cycle, relaxes the uterus by inhibiting contraction of the what?
myometrium
True or False
Inhibin also helps to increase the flexibility of the pubic symphisis and helps dilate the uterine cervix, both of which ease the delivery of a baby
True
What is secreted by growing follicles and by the corpus luteum after ovulation, it inhibits secretion of FSH and to a lesser extent, LH
Inhibin
What is the duration of the female reproductive cycle?
24-36 days
**TG also says 28 days
What are the four phases of the female reproductive cycle?
- Menstrual phase
- Pre-ovulatory phase
- Ovulation
- Post-ovulatory phase
The menstrual phase, also called ____ or ____, lasts for roughly the first ___ days of the cycle.
- menstruation
- menses
- five
Menstrual flow from the uterus consists of __ to ___ mL of blood and tissue cells from the endometrium
50-150mL
The discharge of blood and tissue cells during menstruation occurs because of what that causes the uterine arteries to constrict?
declining level of ovarian hormones
What is the time between the end of menstruation and ovulation and accounts for most of the variation in cycle length?
Pre-ovulatory phase
in a 28 day cycle, lasts from day 6 to 13
Pre-ovulatory phase
Under the influence of FSH, several follicles continue to grow and begin to secrete estrogens and inhibin, by about what day has a single follicle in one of the two ovaries outgrown all the others to become the dominant follicle?
day 6
Pre-ovulatory phase
Estrogens and inhibn secreted by the dominant follicle decrease the secretion of FSH, which causes other, less well developed follicles to stop growing and die. The one dominant follicle then become what?
The mature (graafian) follicle
Pre-ovulatory phase
The mature follicle continues to enlarge until its is ready for ovulation, forming a blister like bulge on the surface of the ovary; during the maturation, the follicle continues to increase its production of estrogens under the influence of an increasing level of what?
LH
The menstrual phase and pre-ovulatory phase together are termed what, because ovarian follicles are growing and developing?
follicular phase
Pre-ovulatory phase
Estrogens liberated into the blood by growing ovarian follicles stimulate the repair of what?
endometrium
What is the rupture of the mature (graafian) follicle and the release of the secondary oocyte into the pelvic cavity, usually occurs on day 14 in a 28-day cycle?
Ovulation
True or False
Ovulation
The high levels of estrogens during the last part of the pre-ovulatory phase exert a positive feedback effect on both LH and GnRH
True
A high level of estrogens stimulates the hypothalamus to release more ____ and the anterior pituitary to produce more ____
- GnRH
- LH
GnRH then promotes the release of even more LH
The surge of LH during ovulation causes what to happen?
Rupture of the mature (graafian) follicle and expulsion of a secondary oocyte
What phase of the female reproductive cycle is the time between ovulation and onset of the next menstruation?
Post-ovulatory phase
What phase of the female reproductive cycle is the most common in duration and lasts for 14 days, from days 15-28 in a 28 day cycle?
Post-ovulatory phase
After ovulation, the ________ collapses; stimulated by ___ the remaining follicular cells enlarge and form the _______, which secretes progesterone, estrogens, relaxin, and inhibin.
- mature follicle
- LH
- Corpus luteum
this is also known as the luteal phase
Luteal phase
If the oocyte is not fertilized, the corpus luteum only last for how long, after which its secretory activity declines and it degenerates into a what?
- two weeks
2. Corpus albicans
Luteal phase
As the levels of hormones in the corpus luteum decreases after not being fertilized, the release of GnRH, FSH, and LH rises due to loss of negative feed back suppression by these hormones, what happens next?
Follicular growth resumes and a new ovarian cycle begins
True or False
Luteal Phase
If the secondary oocyte is fertilized and begins to divide, the corpus luteum persists past its normal two week life span
True
Luteal phase
What hormone “rescues” the corpus luteum from degeneration and is a hormone produced by the embryo beginning about 8 days after fertilization?
Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG)
Like LH, HCG also stimulates the secretory activity of what?
corpus luteum
Progesterone and estrogens produced by the corpus luteum promote growth of the _____, which begin to secrete glycogen, and vascularization and thickening of the endometrium
endometrial glands