MALE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM (February 11, 2015)

The two testes lay outside the abdominal cavity in a special sack called the
scrotum. This enables the testes to remain a temperature about 2 degrees C lower
than the rest of the body than the rest of the body, a condition which favors sperm
production.
Each testis consists of a large number of sperm producing tubules. Between each
tubule are interstitial cells which produce a male hormone, testosterone, and
possibly other substances. The sperm producing or seminiferous tubules join to form
sperm ducts leading to the epididymis, a coiled tube about 6m long on the outside
of the testis. The epididymis in turn, leads into a muscular sperm duct. The two
sperm ducts (otherwise called the vas diferens), one from each testis, open into
the top of the urethra just after it leaves the bladder.
Surrounding the urethra at this point are the prostate gland and, further down,
Cowpers gland. At different times, the urethra conducts either urine or sperm, and
extends through the penis which consists of connective tissue with numerous small
blood spaces in it.

SPERM PRODUCTION
The lining of the seminiferous tubules making up the testis consist of actively
dividing cells which ultimately give rise to sperm. A sperm is a nucleus surrounded
by a little cytoplasm which extends into a long tail. The sperm are quite immobile
when first produced and passed into the epididymis where they are stored. During
copulation, muscular contractions of the epididymis, the sperm duct and accessory
muscles force the accumulated sperm through the urethra. Secretions from the
prostate gland and seminal vesicles provide a fluid medium for the sperm and
nutrients and enzymes. In a short time, the sperms become motile (able to move
around with the tail attached), propelled by lashing movements of their tails.
Sperms not ejaculated in this way are broken down and their products re-absorb in
the sperm ducts at the same rate as they are produced in the testis.

FEMALE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM

The ovaries are two oval bodies each about 35-40 meters long, lying in the lower
pat of the abdomen. They are attached by a membrane to the uterus and supplied
by blood vessels. Close to each ovary is the expanded funnel shaped opening of an
oviduct, also known as the fallopian tube. This is the tube down which the ova pass
after they are released from the ovary.

Both oviducts open into a wider tube, the uterus of womb lower down in the
abdomen. When there is no embryo developing in it, the uterus is only about 80mm
long with walls 10mm thick consisting of unstriated (involuntary) muscles and a
glandular lining. The uterus communicates with the outside through a muscular
tube, the vagina. The cervix is a ring of muscle closing the lower end of the uterus
where it joins the vagina. There is normally only a very small aperture joining these
two organs at this point. Two folds of skin, the labia majora and the labia minora,
enclose the vulva at the entrance to the vagina. The urethra from the bladder opens
into the vulva just in front of the vagina.

PREGNANCY AND DEVELOPMENT (13/02/15)

The zygote undergoes rapid cell division as it passes down the oviduct and into the
uterus. At first it floats freely, absorbing nutriments from the uterine secretions and
then, 4-7 days after its release from the ovary, it adheres to and sinks into the
uterine lining. This is called implantation and may take place at various points in
the uterus, but frequently it is high up on the posterior surface. As the embryo
begins to form, finger-like processes grow from it into the uterine lining, digesting
the epithelium and then absorbing the nourishment. These villi do not form part of
the embryo but, later, contribute to a special organ called the placenta which
supplies the embryo with both food and oxygen.
The uterus, which at first has a volume of only 2-5cm 3 extends with the growth of
the embryo to 5,000-7000cm3 enlarging the abdomen and displacing the other
organs to some extent. The uterus lining at the same time, develops a greater
supply of blood vessels and becomes increasingly muscular. The embryo cells divide
to form tissues; the tissues swell, roll, extend and so form organs of the body. By the
end of 5 weeks, the heart and a circulatory system has formed, the heart is beating
and circulating the blood but the embryo is still only about 10mm long. After two
months, the limbs and the main organ systems have been laid down and the
embryo is now referred to as a foetus.
Although the foetus depends for its food and oxygen on the mothers blood, its
circulatory system is never directly connected with the maternal blood vessels. If it
were, the adults blood pressure would burst the delicate capillaries forming in the
foetus and many substances in the mothers circulation would poison it.

THE PLACENTA
The placenta becomes a large disc of tissue, adhering closely to the uterine lining.
From the foetal part of the placenta, villi protrude into the uterine lining which has
thickened and in which the capillaries have broken down to form more extensive

blood states. The membranes separating the foetal capillaries from the maternal
blood spaces are very thin so that dissolved substances can pass across in both
directions. In the placenta, oxygen, glucose, amino acids and salts in the mothers
blood pass from the uterine blood spaces into the capillaries of the foetus while
carbon dioxide and urea (CO2NH2)2 from the foetus pass across in opposite
directions. The differences in concentration on either side of the placenta are
sufficient to account for the diffusion of oxygen and carbon dioxide, but do not
entirely explain the quantities of glucose transferred and the method by which fats
cross the placenta is not yet known. Amino acids pass from uterine to foetal blood
against a diffusion gradient, presumable by a form of active transport. Vitamins and
some maternal antibodies also reach the foetus.
In addition, the membrane in the placenta which separates foetal and maternal
blood prevents most harmful substances from reaching the foetus. However,
streamed carbon monoxide from cigarette smoke and some viruses e.g. Rubella
(German measles) virus, do cross the placenta. Some foetal red blood cells
sometimes escape across the placenta into the mothers circulation.
A pregnant woman will absorb more iron than usual from her diet and pass on to the
foetus. The demands of the latter for calcium and phosphorus may be so great that
if the mothers diet is deficient in available forms of these elements they will be
taken from her bones.
MILK
Milk contains nearly all the food, vitamins and salts, that babies need for their
energy requirements and tissue building but there is no iron present for the
manufacturing of haemoglobin. All the iron needed for the first weeks or months is
stored in the body of the foetus during gestation. The mothers milk supply
increases with the demands of the baby up to 1 L per day. It is gradually
supplemented and eventually replaced entirely by solid foods, a process known as
weaning. Cows milk is not wholly suitable for human babies. It has more protein,
sodium and phosphorus and less sugar, vitamin A and vitamin C than human milk.
BIRTH
Stage 1
Contractions of the muscles of the uterus start the process of labour to push the
baby out. The baby stimulates the maternal pituitary to make the hormone oxytocin
(pair bonding hormone) which starts this involuntary process. Rhythmic contractions
of the uterus cause the amnion to break and the fluid within it passes out. These
contractions cause further release of oxytocin as a positive feedback mechanism.
Stage 2
Increasing contractions of the uterine muscle push the baby through the cervix and
then vagina.

Stage 3
Finally the baby is expelled head first. The mother bending forward holding her
breath aids this to push the diaphragm on top of the uterus. After birth, the
umbilical cord is cut (has no nerves) and tied so that the remains form the navel on
the abdomen. The placenta and membranes are shed from the mother and are
called the afterbirth.