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More articles by Dr. Soucasaux: Anatomical drawings - Anovulatory cycles - Archetypal aspects of the female genitals - The breasts: some morphological aspects - Colposcopy - Comments on the corpus luteum and related aspects - Comments on some anatomical and symbolic aspects of the female pelvis - The curious relations between androgens and estrogens in women - Drospirenone Oral Contraceptives - Due to prohibition, Brazilian women don't have access to modern medicinal abortion - Endocrinology of menstruation - The Fallopian tubes - Female sexual response - The Gräfenberg Spot (G-Spot) - The Gynecologic Palpation (descendant of "The Touch") - Gynecological assistance: the three basic areas - Gynecology and Gynecologic Surgery - Gynecologist versus obstetrician: what lies behind the combination? - "Gyneco-obstetric-surgical" stubborness and the perpetuation of one of the greatest mistakes of women's medicine - Hypermenorrhea and/or Menorrhagia (Prolonged and/or Excessive Menstrual Bleedings) - Hypertrichosis, Hirsutism and Androgenic Manifestations in Women - Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser (MRKHauser) Syndrome - Menstrual toxin: An old name for a real thing? - Nature and the ovaries - On the Intimate, or Small-Scale, Mechanisms of Menstruation - On the Strange Nature of the Ovaries - Oral hormonal contraceptives (the "Pill") - The Ovaries: Some Functional and Archetypal Considerations - Peculiarities of the Female Genitals' Sensory Innervation - Physiology of menstruation - Polycystic ovaries syndrome - The Possibility of Becoming Pregnant, Its Implications for Women, and Abortion - Premenstrual congestion of the breasts - Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) - The Psychology of Gynecology part 1 (part 2) - Psychosomatic and symbolic aspects of menstruation - Psychosomatic gynecology - Some Details on the Function of the Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Ovaries Axis - Stanislav Grof's Perinatal Matrixes of the Unconscious and Women's Medicine - Symmetric Patterns in the Female Genitals - Thoughts on Female Sexual Psychology - Uninterrupted use of hormonal contraceptives for menstrual suppression: why I do not recommend it - The uterine cervix - Uterine contractility - The Uterus and the Female "Passive-Active" - Women's corporeal consciousness and experience - Women's Experience of the Breasts - Women's Undesired Pregnancies and Women's Right to Abortion and see his Art of Menstruation


The Fallopian Tubes
The only female sex organs whose only biological purpose seems to be ... reproduction

Dr. Nelson Soucasaux , Brazilian gynecologist

Despite their beauty and delicacy, of all the female sexual organs the Fallopian tubes [see drawings, below] are the only ones whose only biological purpose seems to be ... reproduction (at least as far as we know). From the point of view of interdisciplinary studies, unfortunately it is also very difficult to find archetypal references to these organs in mythology. Both from the structural and functional points of view, the Fallopian tubes are extremely delicate organs and, therefore, highly vulnerable to all kinds of aggressions, mostly infectious/inflammatory processes that easily may cause their obstruction and/or impairment of their movement and function, resulting on infertility or tubal pregnancies.

In almost all their length, each Fallopian tube is formed by a thin cylindrical muscular layer internally lined by a folded mucosa named the endosalpinx. From the point of their uterine insertion on, the tubes follow their own way towards the ovaries. Throughout their path, they run along the broad ligaments, which they are attached to by means of peritoneal folds named mesosalpinges.

Three portions can be distinguished in the Fallopian tubes: the intramural, the isthmic and the ampullary.

The intramural portion consists of an extremely narrow canal that crosses the uterine wall for opening into the uterine (endometrial) cavity. The isthmic portion starts just at the point where the tubes emerge from the uterine upper angles; it is less narrow than the intramural and, as it approaches the ampullary portion, it gradually widens. (There is no sharp distinction between the isthmic and the ampullary portions.) As to the ampullary portion, Dr. Frank Netter observes that it is "... tortuous and gradually widens toward the outer end. It terminates in a fimbriated infundibulum which resembles a ruffled petunia or sea anemone. On the fimbriae, the fimbria ovarica is grooved and runs along the lateral border of the mesosalpinx to the ovary."* Further on: "Contraction of the longitudinal muscle fibers of the ovarian fimbria brings the infundibulum in close contact with the surface of the ovary."* This seems to be the main mechanism responsible for the "embrace" given to the ovary by the tubal infundibulum at the moment of ovulation, with the purpose of capturing the oocyte [egg] that is being expelled.

   

The tubal muscular layer is formed by an intricate arrangement of circular and longitudinal smooth fibers, facilitating the propagation of the tubal peristaltic waves towards the uterus. The tubal circular muscle fibers communicate with the double system of spiral fibers which, symmetrically entwined and interlaced around the uterine cavity, constitute most of the myometrium (the uterus's powerful muscular layer). The fact that the uterine contractile waves originate in the upper angles of this organ, just at the insertion of the tubes, is due to this communication between the tubal and uterine circular and spiral smooth muscle fibers.

The endosalpinx is characterized by the formation of an extremely intricate system of longitudinally arranged folds. Whereas in the intramural portion these folds are sparse and small, from the isthmic portion on up to the infundibulum they gradually become more and more numerous, extremely branched and arborescent. As Netter observes, in the ampullary portion the configuration of this endosalpinx folding acquires labyrinth-like features.*

The endosalpinx is lined by a single-layered columnar and ciliated epithelium, basically formed by two kinds of cells: the ciliated and the secretory ones, which alternate irregularly along the mucosa. These cells are sensitive to the ovarian hormones and, according to Ham, their heights, relative or absolute, vary in accordance to the several periods of the menstrual cycle.** Netter observes that "... the height of tubal epithelium reaches its peak during the period of ovulation and is lower during menstruation."* According to this author, the number of secretory cells becomes greater along the luteal phase of the cycle.*

Just like the peristaltic movements of the tubal muscles, the ciliar movement of the endosalpinx (which is due to its ciliated cells) is also directed towards the uterus. When pregnancy occurs, both of them aim to carry the fertilized egg to the uterine cavity. On the other hand, the secretory cells are in charge of supplying nourishment to the egg during this transportation, which usually takes about 5 to 7 days.

As I have observed in my article "Fundamentos para o Estudo das Influências Neurovegetativas em Ginecologia" ("Basis for the Study of the Neurovegetative Influences in Gynecology")***, regardless of the fact that the tubal motility is fundamentally stimulated by the estrogens, the simultaneous existence of a co-ordinating activity on the part of the vegetative innervation of the tubes in this process seems to be evident. During ovulation, even knowing the crucial role played by the pituitary LH ovulatory peak in helping the process of oocyte capture by the Fallopian tube and also the increase in the tubal motility caused by the high estrogen levels of this phase of the cycle, I still believe it is hard to explain only endocrinally the authentic "embrace" given in the ovary by the fimbriated tubal infundibulum in order to so perfectly capture the oocyte. As already mentioned, it seems to be the contraction of the Fallopian tube's ovarian fimbria that makes the tubal infundibulum come closer to the ovary and finally surround it with its fimbriae. In this way, the possibility of a subtle neurovegetative co-ordination of this extremely intricate process, as well as of the tubal peristaltic waves that aid to carry the fertilized egg towards the uterus, must also be seriously considered.

* Netter, F.H. - "The Ciba Collection of Medical Illustrations - Vol 2, Reproductive System" - USA, 1954.

** Ham, A.W. - "Histology" - J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, 1965.

*** Soucasaux, N. - "Fundamentos para o Estudo das Influências Neurovegetativas em Ginecologia" ("Basis for the Study of the Neurovegetative Influences in Gynecology") - in: Jornal Brasileiro de Medicina, vol 57, nº 4, October 1989. 

The text above is an excerpt from my book "Os Órgãos Sexuais Femininos: Forma, Função, Símbolo e Arquétipo" ("The Female Sexual Organs: Shape, Function, Symbol and Archetype"), published by Imago Editora, Rio de Janeiro, 1993. For information on the book, see page http://www.nelsonginecologia.med.br/orgaos.htm , at my web site www.nelsonginecologia.med.br .

Copyright Nelson Soucasaux 1993, 2005
_______________________________________________

Nelson Soucasaux is a gynecologist dedicated to clinical, preventive and psychosomatic gynecology. Graduated in 1974 by Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, he is the author of several articles published in medical journals and of the books "Novas Perspectivas em Ginecologia" ("New Perspectives in Gynecology") and "Os Órgãos Sexuais Femininos: Forma, Função, Símbolo e Arquétipo" ("The Female Sexual Organs: Shape, Function, Symbol and Archetype"), published by Imago Editora, Rio de Janeiro, 1990, 1993. He has been working in his private clinic since 1975.

Web site (Portuguese-English): www.nelsonginecologia.med.br



NEWS | homepage | LIST OF ALL TOPICS | MUM address & What does MUM mean? | e-mail the museum | privacy on this site | who runs this museum?? |
Amazing women! | the art of menstruation | artists (non-menstrual) | asbestos | belts | bidets | founder bio | Bly, Nellie | MUM board | books: menstruation and menopause (and reviews) | cats | company booklets directory | contraception and religion | costumes | menstrual cups | cup usage | dispensers | douches, pain, sprays | essay directory | extraction | famous women in menstrual hygiene ads | FAQ | founder/director biography | gynecological topics by Dr. Soucasaux | humor | huts | links | masturbation | media coverage of MUM | miscellaneous | museum future | Norwegian menstruation exhibit | odor (olor)| pad directory | patent medicine | poetry directory | products, current | religion | your remedies for menstrual discomfort | menstrual products safety | science | shame | slapping, menstrual | sponges | synchrony | tampon directory | early tampons | teen ads directory | tour of the former museum (video) | underpants directory | videos, films directory | Words and expressions about menstruation | Would you stop menstruating if you could? | What did women do about menstruation in the past? | washable pads
More articles by Dr. Soucasaux: Anatomical drawings - Anovulatory cycles - Archetypal aspects of the female genitals - The breasts: some morphological aspects - Colposcopy - Comments on the corpus luteum and related aspects - Comments on some anatomical and symbolic aspects of the female pelvis - The curious relations between androgens and estrogens in women - Drospirenone Oral Contraceptives - Due to prohibition, Brazilian women don't have access to modern medicinal abortion - Endocrinology of menstruation - The Fallopian tubes - Female sexual response - The Gräfenberg Spot (G-Spot) - The Gynecologic Palpation (descendant of "The Touch") - Gynecological assistance: the three basic areas - Gynecology and Gynecologic Surgery - Gynecologist versus obstetrician: what lies behind the combination? - "Gyneco-obstetric-surgical" stubborness and the perpetuation of one of the greatest mistakes of women's medicine - Hypermenorrhea and/or Menorrhagia (Prolonged and/or Excessive Menstrual Bleedings) - Hypertrichosis, Hirsutism and Androgenic Manifestations in Women - Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser (MRKHauser) Syndrome - Menstrual toxin: An old name for a real thing? - Nature and the ovaries - On the Intimate, or Small-Scale, Mechanisms of Menstruation - On the Strange Nature of the Ovaries - Oral hormonal contraceptives (the "Pill") - The Ovaries: Some Functional and Archetypal Considerations - Peculiarities of the Female Genitals' Sensory Innervation - Physiology of menstruation - Polycystic ovaries syndrome - The Possibility of Becoming Pregnant, Its Implications for Women, and Abortion - Premenstrual congestion of the breasts - Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) - The Psychology of Gynecology part 1 (part 2) - Psychosomatic and symbolic aspects of menstruation - Psychosomatic gynecology - Some Details on the Function of the Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Ovaries Axis - Stanislav Grof's Perinatal Matrixes of the Unconscious and Women's Medicine - Symmetric Patterns in the Female Genitals - Thoughts on Female Sexual Psychology - Uninterrupted use of hormonal contraceptives for menstrual suppression: why I do not recommend it - The uterine cervix - Uterine contractility - The Uterus and the Female "Passive-Active" - Women's corporeal consciousness and experience - Women's Experience of the Breasts - Women's Undesired Pregnancies and Women's Right to Abortion and see his Art of Menstruation