位置、形态与功能

输卵管（Fallopian tubes，以16世纪意大利解剖学家Gabriele Fallopio的名字命名，有时又称oviducts，拉丁语 paths of eggs，后一个英文术语精确地表达了它的功能）由两侧卵巢向子宫延伸，它们为卵子向下运行到子宫提供了通道（他们同样为精子从子宫向上运动、与卵子相遇提供了通道）。子宫为受精卵植入的场所。输卵管宽阔的卵巢端有一些指状突起，称为输卵管伞，它们能移动地扫过卵巢表面；输卵管的子宫端直接延伸进子宫。卵子的受精通常发生在输卵管的上部，在其内表面，有无数的毛状生长物，叫纤毛。纤毛的运动，再加上输卵管壁平滑肌收缩，将卵子向子宫方向输送。（在男子的输精管内，精子以同样的方式被运送，因为在输精管内它们仍不能自主运动）。
 

The Fallopian Tubes

Location, form and function
The Fallopian tubes (named after the 16th century Italian anatomist Gabriele Fallopio) lead from the ovaries to the uterus. They are also sometimes called oviducts (lat.: paths of eggs), a term that accurately describes their function. They provide a passageway for the egg down to the area where it could implant in case of a fertilization. (They also provide a passageway for sperm cells swimming upward from the uterus trying to reach the egg). The wide ovarian end of a Fallopian tube has fingerlike extensions called fimbriae (singular: fimbria) which move across the surface of the ovary; the uterine end leads directly into the inside of the uterus. The fertilization of an egg normally occurs in the upper part of a Fallopian tube. Inside the tube, there are innumerable hairlike growths called cilia (singular: cilium) whose movements, together with muscular contractions of the tubal wall, sweep the egg toward the uterus. (Inside the male vas deferens, the sperm cells are transported the same way since they are still unable to move by themselves at that point).