Morphometrical changes of the human uterine tubes according to aging and menstrual cycle

Abstract

Studies on the morphological changes in the human uterine tube according to aging and menstrual cycle so far have been limited to microscopic aspects such as cellular changes, mainly due to the inaccessibility of specimens. In this study, postmortem analysis using both macroscopic and microscopic methods was performed using 55 human uterine tubes. The numbers and the degrees of convolution, and the length of the uterine tube had a tendency to decrease according to the increase of age in women by fifties. Under the influence of menopause, the total areas of the tube, mucosal layer and lumen in the ampulla, and lumen in the isthmus and infundibulum were shown to decrease on cross section. However, in the isthmus and infundibulum, the cross sectional area of the tube and mucosal layer did not show statistically significant changes. In the women at reproductive stages, the cross sectional areas of the tube, mucosa and lumen showed variations among different individuals, which may be due to the influence of menstrual cycle rather than the increase of age. No venous engorgement of the tubes was observed at the early proliferative, the mid-secretory and the postmenopausal stage. By contrast, full engorgement was observed at the early secretory stage and the menstrual stage.