Stroma of ovary

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Stroma of ovary
Section of the ovary. 1. Outer covering.
1’. Attached border.
2. Central stroma.
3. Peripheral stroma.
4. Bloodvessels.
5. Vesicular follicles in their earliest stage.
6, 7, 8. More advanced follicles.
9. An almost mature follicle.
9’. Follicle from which the ovum has escaped.
10. Corpus luteum.
Section of the fold in the mesonephros of a chick embryo of the fourth day. (Stroma of ovary labeled at center left.)
Latin stroma ovarii
Gray's subject #266 1256

The stroma of the ovary is a peculiar soft tissue, abundantly supplied with bloodvessels, consisting for the most part of spindle-shaped cells with a small amount of ordinary connective tissue.

These cells have been regarded by some anatomists as unstriped muscle cells, which, indeed, they most resemble; by others as connective-tissue cells.

On the surface of the organ this tissue is much condensed, and forms a layer (tunica albuginea) composed of short connective-tissue fibers, with fusiform cells between them.

The stroma of the ovary may contain interstitial cells resembling those of the testis.

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This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.