Ovary Development

Introduction

The female gonad is the ovary and is closely associated with female internal genital (reproductive) tract development. In humans, these laterally paired organs lie within the peritoneal cavity.

Initial gonad development in females and males is virtually identical with germ cells migrating into an indifferent gonad. In females with XX, the ovary then begins to develop and the subsequent structure and timecourse of germ cell then differs between males and females. In the ovary oocytes proliferate prior to birth and arrest in meiosis 1.

Links: X Chromosome | System - Female | Week 1 - Oogenesis

Infant Ovary

Image below shows a region (see inset) of the infant ovary cortex. There are a large number of developing oocytes which will eventually form a dense primordial germ layer at the ovary periphery. Later stages of follicle development are completely absent and will begin to only appear just prior to puberty.