Müllerian duct
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Müllerian duct | ||
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| Urogenital sinus of female human embryo of eight and a half to nine weeks old. | ||
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| Tail end of human embryo, from eight and a half to nine weeks old. | ||
| Latin | d. paramesonephricus | |
| Gray's | subject #252 1206 | |
| Carnegie stage | 17 | |
| Precursor | Intermediate mesoderm | |
| MeSH | A16.254.570 | |
| Dorlands/Elsevier | d_29/12315002 | |
The Müllerian ducts (or paramesonephric ducts) are paired ducts of the embryo which empty into the cloaca.
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[edit] Regulation of development
The development of the Müllerian ducts is controlled by the presence or absence of "AMH", or anti-Müllerian hormone (also known as "MIF" for "Müllerian inhibiting factor", or "MIH" for "Müllerian inhibiting hormone").
| male embryogenesis | The testes produce AMH and as a result the development of the Müllerian ducts is inhibited. | The ducts disappear except for the vestigial vagina masculina and the appendix testis. |
| female embryogenesis | The absence of AMH results in the development of female reproductive organs, as noted above. Disturbance in the development may result in uterine absence (Mullerian agenesis) or uterine malformations. | The ducts develop into the upper vagina, cervix, uterus and oviducts. |
[edit] Eponym
They are named after Johannes Peter Müller, a physiologist who described these ducts in his text "Bildungsgeschichte der Genitalien" in 1830.
[edit] Additional images
 Section of the urogenital fold of a chick embryo of the fourth day. |
 Enlarged view from the front of the left Wolffian body before the establishment of the distinction of sex. |
 Transverse section of human embryo eight and a half to nine weeks old. |
[edit] See also
- Defeminization
- prostatic utricle
- List of homologues of the human reproductive system
- Sexual differentiation
- Wolffian duct
