The Sex Organs - The Female Sex Organs

The Internal Sex Organs

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).