Female Reproductive System Lecture
Female Reproductive System Lecture
REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM
OUTLINE
• Sex differentiation / determination
• Indifferent gonads
• Clinical application
• Ovary
• Genital ducts
- Indifferent stage.
- Female internal genitalia.
• Vagina
• Uterine and vaginal defects( Clinicals)
• External genitalia
- Indifferent stage.
- Female external genitalia
Sex Differentiation
• This complex process involves many genes which
include some autosomes.
• Y-chromosome is the key to sexual differentiation
of primordial sexual organs.
• On its short arm resides the SRY gene (sex
determining region on Y-chromosome). The
protein product of the gene is the testis-
determining-factor.
• In its absence, female development is established.
• The genetic sex of the embryo is determined at
the time of fertilization.
Indifferent Gonads
• Male and female morphological characteristics do
not begin to develop until 7th week.
• The gonads begin as a pair of longitudinal ridges,
the genital or gonadal ridges, by proliferation of
the surface epithelium and condensation of the
underlying mesenchyme on the posterior
abdominal wall.
• Germ cells which originate in the epiblast do not
appear in the ridges until 6th week.
Indifferent Gonads
• Following gastrulation, the germ cells, by the 3rd
week, reside among the endoderm cells in the
wall of the yolk sack close to the allantois.
• By the 4th week the primordial germ cells migrate
along the dorsal mesentery of the hindgut.
• The germ cells arrive the gonadal ridges at the
beginning of the 5th week.
• They invade the ridges by the 6th week of
development.
Indifferent Gonads
• The gonads do not develop if the primordial
germ cells fail to reach the genital ridges.
• The epithelium of the genital ridge proliferates
and penetrates the underlying mesenchyme
to form irregularly shaped cords called the
primitive sex cords.
• In the indifferent gonad these primitive sex
cords are connected to the surface epithelium.
Indifferent Gonads
Clinical Application
• Two X-chromosomes are needed for complete ovarian
development. In embryos with abnormal sex
chromosomes such as XXX or XXY the following are the
outcomes:
• The number of X-chromosome appears to be
unimportant in sex determination.
• With a normal Y-chromosome the embryo develops as
a male.
• In absence of Y-chromosome, the embryo develops as
a female.
• Loss of SRY portion on short arm of the Y-chromosome
leads to female development.
Clinical Application
• Migration of germ cells to the gonadal ridge is not
affected by loss of an X-chromosome as in 45X0.
• Klinefelter syndrome 47, XXY or 48 XXXY – the most
common major abnormality of sexual differentiation
(1/1500 males). Characterized by infertility,
gynaecomastia, low androgen level and varying
degrees of impaired sexual maturation.
• Gonadal dysgenesis – streak ovaries, absence of
oocytes. Phenotypically female. Variety of
chromosome components may be present. X-Y
female gonadal dysgenesis ( Swyer syndrome) is due
to point mutations or deletion of the SRY gene.
Development of Ovary.
• This depends on the induction by the primordial germ
cells that invade the indifferent gonad by the 6th
week.
• It occurs in an embryo with XX sex chromosome
complement, absence of SRY gene and presence of
WNT4 gene.
• The primitive sex cords dissociate into irregular cell
clusters containing groups of primordial germ cells
and occupy the inner part of the ovary.
• Normally, they degenerate and disappear and are
replaced by a vascular stroma which forms the
ovarian medulla.
Development of Ovary