Vagina Development

Introduction

Section through newborn female

The embryonic origin of the vagina has been a historically hotly debated issue with several different contributions and origins described.

One description shows the vagina arising by downward growth of Wolffian and Mullerian ducts. The sinovaginal bulbs are the caudal ends of the Wolffian ducts. Vaginal development is also under negative control of androgens.

An earlier understanding was that the upper part of the vagina derived from Müllerian ducts and the lower part from the sinovaginal bulbs (formed by fusion form the vaginal plate) all derived from the urogenital sinus. The terms sinovaginal bulbs and vaginal plate were first coined by Koff in 1933.^[1]

Acién's hypothesis - relates to abnormalities and the embryology of the human vagina as deriving from the Wolffian ducts and the Müllerian tubercle.

Historic Embryology - Genital
General: 1901 Urinogenital Tract \| 1902 The Uro-Genital System \| 1904 Ovary and Testis \| 1912 Urinogenital Organ Development \| 1914 External Genitalia \| 1921 Urogenital Development \| 1921 External Genital \| 1942 Sex Cords \| 1953 Germ Cells \| Historic Embryology Papers \| Historic Disclaimer
Female: 1904 Ovary and Testis \| 1904 Hymen \| 1912 Urinogenital Organ Development \| 1914 External Genitalia \| 1914 Female \| 1921 External Genital \| 1927 Female Foetus 15 cm \| 1927 Vagina \| 1932 Postnatal Ovary
Male: 1887-88 Testis \| 1904 Ovary and Testis \| 1904 Leydig Cells \| 1906 Testis vascular \| 1909 Prostate \| 1912 Prostate \| 1914 External Genitalia \| 1915 Cowper’s and Bartholin’s Glands \| 1920 Wolffian tubules \| 1935 Prepuce \| 1935 Wolffian Duct \| 1942 Sex Cords \| 1943 Testes Descent \| Historic Embryology Papers \| Historic Disclaimer

| Uterus Development Animation | original page

Adult Dimensions

A recent study using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has accurately measured the dimensions of the adult vagina.^[2]

"Seventy-seven MRI scans were performed on 28 women before gel application to establish baseline vaginal measurements. Average dimensions were calculated for each woman and for the population. The influence of potential covariates (age, height, weight and parity) on these dimensions was assessed. ...Mean vaginal length from cervix to introitus was 62.7 mm. Vaginal width was largest in the proximal vagina (32.5 mm), decreased as it passed through the pelvic diaphragm (27.8 mm) and smallest at the introitus (26.2 mm)."

References

↑ Development of the vagina in the human fetus. Koff AK. Contrib Embryol. 1933 Sep;24(140):59-91. PMID: 12332362
↑ Baseline dimensions of the human vagina. Barnhart KT, Izquierdo A, Pretorius ES, Shera DM, Shabbout M, Shaunik A. Hum Reprod. 2006 Jun;21(6):1618-22. Epub 2006 Feb 14. PMID: 16478763

Reviews

Lifetime changes in the vulva and vagina. Farage M, Maibach H. Arch Gynecol Obstet. 2006 Jan;273(4):195-202. PMID: 16208476

Function of sexual glands and mechanism of sex differentiation. Kavlock R, Cummings AJ Toxicol Sci. 2004 Aug;29(3):167-78. Review. PMID: 15467266 | See Related Articles

Articles

Essential roles of mesenchyme-derived beta-catenin in mouse Mullerian duct morphogenesis. Deutscher E, Hung-Chang Yao H. Dev Biol. 2007 May 3; PMID: 17532316

Guioli S, Sekido R, Lovell-Badge R. The origin of the Mullerian duct in chick and mouse. Dev Biol. 2007 Feb 15;302(2):389-98.

Hashimoto R. Development of the human Mullerian duct in the sexually undifferentiated stage. Anat Rec A Discov Mol Cell Evol Biol. 2003 Jun;272(2):514-9.
The embryologic development of the human vagina. Ulfelder H, Robboy SJ. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 1976 Dec 1;126(7):769-76. PMID: 1033667

The development of the human vagina. BULMER D. J Anat. 1957 Oct;91(4):490-509. No abstract available. PMID: 13475148 | PMCID: 1244904

New concepts on the development of the vagina. Shapiro E, Huang H, Wu XR. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2004;545:173-85. Review. No abstract available. PMID: 15086027

Revisiting old vaginal topics: conversion of the Müllerian vagina and origin of the "sinus" vagina. Cai Y. Int J Dev Biol. 2009;53(7):925-34. Review. PMID: 19598112 | IJDB

Fetal development of the female external urinary sphincter complex: an anatomical and histological study. Sebe P, Fritsch H, Oswald J, Schwentner C, Lunacek A, Bartsch G, Radmayr C. J Urol. 2005 May;173(5):1738-42; discussion 1742. PMID: 15821572

Helper function of the Wolffian ducts and role of androgens in the development of the vagina. Drews U. Sex Dev. 2007;1(2):100-10. PMID: 18391520

Search PubMed

Search Pubmed: Vagina Development | vaginal plate development | Mullerian duct

Historic Embryology - Genital
General: 1901 Urinogenital Tract \| 1902 The Uro-Genital System \| 1904 Ovary and Testis \| 1912 Urinogenital Organ Development \| 1914 External Genitalia \| 1921 Urogenital Development \| 1921 External Genital \| 1942 Sex Cords \| 1953 Germ Cells \| Historic Embryology Papers \| Historic Disclaimer
Female: 1904 Ovary and Testis \| 1904 Hymen \| 1912 Urinogenital Organ Development \| 1914 External Genitalia \| 1914 Female \| 1921 External Genital \| 1927 Female Foetus 15 cm \| 1927 Vagina \| 1932 Postnatal Ovary
Male: 1887-88 Testis \| 1904 Ovary and Testis \| 1904 Leydig Cells \| 1906 Testis vascular \| 1909 Prostate \| 1912 Prostate \| 1914 External Genitalia \| 1915 Cowper’s and Bartholin’s Glands \| 1920 Wolffian tubules \| 1935 Prepuce \| 1935 Wolffian Duct \| 1942 Sex Cords \| 1943 Testes Descent \| Historic Embryology Papers \| Historic Disclaimer

| Uterus Development Animation

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Cite this page: Hill, M.A. (2024, May 2) Embryology Vagina Development. Retrieved from https://embryology.med.unsw.edu.au/embryology/index.php/Vagina_Development

What Links Here?

[1] Development of the vagina in the human fetus. Koff AK. Contrib Embryol. 1933 Sep;24(140):59-91. PMID: 12332362

[2] Baseline dimensions of the human vagina. Barnhart KT, Izquierdo A, Pretorius ES, Shera DM, Shabbout M, Shaunik A. Hum Reprod. 2006 Jun;21(6):1618-22. Epub 2006 Feb 14. PMID: 16478763

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