Characteristics of the uterine tubes in the fetal period: topographic and morphometric parallels

Abstract

Topicality of the study is stipulated by the importance of objective data for medicine concerning formation of the structure and topographic-anatomical interrelations of the uterine tubes with adjacent organs and structures during the prenatal period of human ontogenesis. Objective: to find and compare tendencies of changes of the uterine tube morphologic parameters in the two groups of fetuses remote in time, and determine age peculiarities of their topography during perinatal period of development. The experimental material (specimens of fetuses) was divided into two groups: І group – 35 specimens of fetuses deceased during 2017-2019; ІІ group – 105 specimens of fetuses taken from the Museum of the Departments of Anatomy, Clinical Anatomy and Operative Surgery at Higher State Educational Establishment of Ukraine “Bukovinian State Medical University”, collected during 1970-1990. Every group was subdivided into 7 subgroups according to 10 months of the fetal period of development (from the 4th to the 10th months). The results obtained were statistically processed in the licensed statistical package “Statistica 6.0” using nonparametric methods to evaluate the results. Regular changes in the topography of the right and left uterine tubes, changes in their shape and histological structure are observed. Both uterine tubes were found to occupy an ascending position in thirty cases out of sixty examined specimens of early fetuses (4-6 months of age). In twenty cases one uterine tube was found to be in an ascending position, and in ten cases both uterine tubes were placed practically horizontally. The study of uterine tube morphogenesis in 7-month fetuses found that the structure and topography of the uterine tubes in different age periods differ. In two 7-month fetuses the uterine tubes were found to be in an ascending position, in eight cases one uterine tube (the left one – in six cases out of eight) was in a horizontal position, and in ten cases two uterine tubes were directed practically horizontally. During the 8th month of the antenatal development one uterine tube was found to be in an ascending position out of eight cases; in ten cases both uterine tubes were in the position close to a horizontal one; and in two cases the left uterine tube was in a descending position. In 9-month fetuses both uterine tubes were found to be in a horizontal position in twelve cases, in eight cases one of the uterine tubes was in the position close to a descending one. In fourteen fetuses 10 months of development one uterine tube was in a descending position, and only in six cases both uterine tubes were located horizontally. The length of the uterine tubes of 4-7-month fetuses deceased during 2017-2019 was not found to differ reliably. Similar regularity was found in the group of fetuses aged from 9 to 10 months. The length of the uterine tubes of the archival specimens increases reliably every two months. In this group of fetuses the parameters of the uterine tube length aged from 9 to 10 months were found to differ reliably contrary to the length of the uterine tubes in the group of modern specimens of a similar age. Comparison of dynamics in changes of the uterine tube length in the two groups of fetuses remote in time showed that within the frame of one group differences in the morphometric parameters between the right and left uterine tubes are not considerable. Therefore, the study of peculiarities in the structure of the uterine tubes at every stage of the perinatal period found certain peculiarities and regularities of their development.