Ovary

Structure and Position

The ovary is a diamond-shaped gland usually located close to the lateral pelvis walls. As the ovary is suspended in the peritoneal cavity and its surface is not covered by peritoneum, the oocyte expelled at ovulation passes into the peritoneal cavity and then is captured by the fimbriae of the infundibulum of the uterine tube and then in the ampulla where fertilization can take place.

Broad ligament from behind

Ligaments:

1. It is suspended by mesovarium (which is a part of the broad ligament).
2. The ovary is suspended on the lateral wall by the suspensory ligament of ovary.
3. The ligament of the ovary, attached the ovary to the uterus from the medial aspect and it runs within mesovarium. It is a remnant from the superior part of the ovarian gubernaculum. It connects the proximal end of the ovary to the lateral angle of the uterus, just inferior to the entrance of the uterine tube.

Vasculature and Innervation

The vessels and nerves are conveyed within the suspensory ligament of the ovary.

• Arterial supply:
  1. By the ovarian artery (branch of aorta). The following arterial supplies, bifurcate into to ovarian and tubal branches, which anastomose with each other.
  2. By branches of the uterine artery approach the ovary from the medial aspect.
• Venous drainage: by a pampiniform venous plexus located in the broad ligament, near the ovary + uterine tube. These veins merge to form the single ovarian vein that follows the course of the ovarian artery and drains in the inferior vena cava (right vein) and in the left renal vein (left vein).
• Lymphatic vessels: join the ones of the uterine tubes and fundus, and follow the ovarian blood vessels, as they ascend and drain into the right + left lumbar lymph nodes.
• Innervation: Derived partly from ovarian plexus (descending within the suspensory ligament) and partly from the uterine (pelvic) plexus. Ovaries (together with uterine tubes) are intraperitoneally, thus they are superior to the pelvic pain line. Therefore, visceral afferent pain fibers ascend retrogradely with the descending sympathetic fibers of the ovarian plexus and lumbar splachnic nerves, to the cell bodies of the T11–L1 spinal sensory ganglia.

Function

It is the female gonad responsible for oogenesis and also behaves as an endocrine gland, producing female sex hormones (e. g.: progesterone).

Links

Bibliography

• MOORE, Keith L – DALLEY, Arthur F. Clinically Oriented Anatomy. 5. edition. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2005. ISBN 0781736390.