The Female Reproductive System - Ovaries

Ovaries:

• Ovaries are the primary female sex organs that produce the female gamete, the ovum, and several steroid hormones (ovarian hormones) such as Oestrogen, Progesterone.
• Ovaries are a pair of almond-shaped.
• Ovaries are solid greyish pink colored and lie close to the lateral walls of the pelvic cavity in the region of the lower abdomen, one on each side.
• The ovary is an elliptical structure about 2-4 cm long, 1.5 cm wide, and 1 cm thick. 

Location of ovaries:

• Each ovary is along the lateral borders of the pelvic cavity, hung from the dorsal body wall just beyond the kidney by a stretch of peritonium called the mesovarium.
• Several connective tissue ligaments hold it in place.
• An ovarian ligament connects each ovary to the uterus, and a suspensory ligament connects each ovary to the lateral pelvic wall.
• It has a hilus, which connects nerves and blood vessels. 

Structure of ovaries:

Each ovary is a compact or solid organ with an outer cortex and an inner medulla. The cortical stroma is made up of spindle-shaped fibroblasts.  

1. Capacity of the uterus: The cavity of the uterus can expand 500 times during pregnancy, from 10 cm³ to 5,000 cm³.
   
   
2. Tunica albuginea: Below the germinal epithelium is a poorly defined dense connective tissue layer that covers the cortex called tunica albuginea. It gives the ovary its pale colour.
    
3. Germinal epithelium: Each ovary which covers the surface of the ovary is called the germinal epithelium which encloses the ovarian stroma. Germinal epithelium is made up of simple squamous or cuboidal epithelia cells. Germinal epithelial cells generate groups of oogonia that project into the cortex as cords known as egg tubes of Pfluger, each with a spherical terminal mass of oogonia known as an egg nest. 
   The stroma is differentiated into the outer cortex and inner medulla.
   i) Cortex: The cortex is composed of large spindle-shaped fibroblasts, reticular fibres, and ovarian follicles. The cortex appears dense and granular due to the presence of ovarian follicles in various stages of development. 
   ii) Medulla: It is the central part of the ovary made up of less dense connective tissue and richly supplied with blood vessels, elastic fibres, lymphatic vessels, smooth muscles and a few nerves.