We're gonna begin our discussion of the individual female reproductive organs with the ovaries and
as we discussed in a previous portion of the course this is an example of a gonad and the
homologous structure in a male is referred to as the testes and before I move into the specifics
of the ovaries I want to talk about the terms homology and analogy in biology if you've read
that the ovaries are homologous to the testes and that is correct if you've heard that the ovaries
are analogous with the testes that's incorrect so let's talk about this real quickly so for a
homology or homologous structures mean that they were formed through similar embryonic tissue and
that's true the ovaries and the testes are going to differentiate but have similar embryonic tissue
whereas with analogous structures they have a similar structure or similar function but they
evolved separately they through different types of tissues so if you think about butterfly wings and
bat wings those are analogous whereas the ovaries and the testes are homologous so developing
through similar embryonic tissue so I'll be using that term homologous to talk about structures or
organs that are homologous between males and females so moving on to some of the specifics
in terms of the ovaries and as we discussed previously we have two ovaries very closely
related to both the uterine tubes as well as the uterus this is where you have the development of
the oocytes so very important in terms of gametes gametes are those haploid cells and haploid
meanings that you have 23 chromosomes also able in terms of to unite with another gamete in order
to get the full suite of chromosomes this is also an example of an endocrine endocrine gland because
it's going to secrete sex hormones and we'll you'll talk about that more with Dr. Sullivan in
a different part of this course there are numerous ligaments associated with the ovaries as well as
with the uterus and we'll talk about each one in turn but we're going to start with the broad
ligament you can see really right here a nice image of the broad ligament this is the uterus
right here this is the ovary right here now the broad ligament is a large complex it's associated
with the uterus there's three main components of the broad ligament but when we're talking about
the ovaries it's specifically the mesovarium and that makes sense because you have this right here
so you know you're talking about the ovaries the broad ligament is going to be peritoneal so we do
have peritoneum in this area it's not going to kind of completely encompass like we're talking
about with the gastrointestinal system but you do have a very close association with the ovaries and
the peritoneum we'll talk about it in a bit more detail it's not completely encased or surrounded
by peritoneum like we have with the uterine tubes so that's the broad ligament we'll come back to
that and in a lot more detail when we talk about the uterus I also want to talk about the ligament
of the ovary or the ovarian ligament and you can see that also right here as you can see this is
the clear connection between the ovary and the uterus so really helping to tether those two
things together now the ligament of the ovary with the round ligament are actually remnants
of the gubernaculum and that is a funny name this is an embryonic structure that helped
in terms of the descent of the ovaries from the lumbar region to its place in the pelvic cavity
so we'll talk about this in a bit more detail when we talk about the round ligament of the uterus as
well but these two together are the remnant of the gubernaculum and the last one I want to
discuss is what's referred to as the suspensory ligament of the ovary and I don't really have
a nice picture for you here but what I do have you can see is this neurovasculature right here and
what is unique and important about the suspensory ligament is within this peritoneal lining this is
of the suspensory ligament this is where that ovarian neurovascular is going to travel so
very important in terms of really housing that neurovasculature now if we remember back to
our discussions in terms of arterial supply the ovarian arteries are gonadal arteries
gonadal arteries so gonadal arteries we know are direct branches from the abdominal aorta
similar to the testicular arteries okay so now let's get down to the more minute or histological
level we're gonna start with the outer level which is the ovarian mesothelium so this is going to be
the outermost portion here this is going to be continuous with the peritoneum and this is what
gives the ovaries that kind of grayish appearance that's very typical of the ovaries which is very
different than the glistening peritoneum that surrounds it now after puberty with the release
of oocytes during menstruation this particular portion of the histology or the mesothelium
will become more scarred throughout time so you have a very distinct difference between
the surrounding peritoneum and the mesothelium deep to the mesothelium you'll have the tunica
albuginea we know with the albu- here this means white so very white in appearance so really
just a protective portion right there the ovarian cortex is important in terms of ovarian follicles
and we'll talk about what those are in a moment but important in terms of the release of those
ovarian follicles and the most internal portion of the ovaries is the medulla the medulla is very
distinct and the fact that it is highly vascular you'll have lymphatics associated with the medulla
and this is the most internal structure of the ovaries now in terms of the follicles remember
we said that these are going to be located in the cortex and these are going to be oocytes
in various stages of development and when they are ready to be released they're going to be
maintained within mature follicles so during menstruation these will be released into and
this is really important point these will be released into the peritoneal cavity it's not
being released directly into the uterine tubes it will be released kind of in this area now I won't
stay in the peritoneal cavity for very long before it's kind of swept into the uterine tubes
now one clinical thing that I wanted to discuss in terms of the ovaries are ovarian cysts these are
just fluid-filled sacs they're either within the ovaries or on the outside of the ovaries they're
fairly common sometimes they're asymptomatic oftentimes they'll go away on their own and
most the time they're non-cancerous typically if they are cancerous in individuals that are
40 years old or older and some symptoms that go along with ovarian cysts pain pressure pain
during intercourse changes in the menstrual cycle specifically irregularity sometimes pain in terms
of that so a fairly common thing that can occur oftentimes it will go away on its own and larger
ovarian cysts you might have to have some type of surgery to relieve the symptoms that go along
with the cyst so clinically that's one of the more important things discussed with the ovaries
now we're going to continue our discussion of the internal organs with the uterine tube