: salpinx), are paired tubular sex organs in the human female body that stretch from the ovaries to the uterus.
On its journey to the uterus, the zygote undergoes cell divisions that changes it to a blastocyst, an early embryo, in readiness for implantation.
A number of tubal pathologies cause damage to the cilia of the tube, which can impede movement of the sperm or egg.
This is the narrowest part of the tube that crosses the uterus wall to connect with the isthmus.
When ovulation is about to occur, the sex hormones activate the fimbriae,[citation needed] causing them to swell with blood, extend, and hit the ovary in a gentle, sweeping motion.
An oocyte is released from the ovary into the peritoneal cavity and the cilia of the fimbriae sweep it into the fallopian tube.
[6] This layer is responsible for the rhythmic peristaltic contractions of the fallopian tubes, that with the cilia move the egg cell towards the uterus.
[6] The presence of immune cells in the mucosa has also been reported with the main type being CD8+ T-cells.
Cell markers have been identified in the fimbriae, which suggests that their embryonic origin is different from that of the other tube segments.
When an oocyte is developing in an ovary, it is surrounded by a spherical collection of cells known as an ovarian follicle.
At the time of ovulation in the menstrual cycle, the secondary oocyte is released from the ovary.
The secondary oocyte is caught by the fimbriated end of the fallopian tube and travels to the ampulla.
The ampulla is typically where the sperm are met and fertilization occurs; meiosis II is promptly completed.
After fertilization, the ovum is now called a zygote and travels toward the uterus with the aid of the hairlike cilia and the activity of the muscle of the fallopian tube.
A number of tubal pathologies cause damage to the cilia of the tube, which can impede movement of the sperm or egg.
[7] Salpingitis is inflammation of the fallopian tubes and may be found alone, or with other pelvic inflammatory diseases (PIDs).
A thickening of the fallopian tube at its narrow isthmus portion, due to inflammation, is known as salpingitis isthmica nodosa.
[19] If a blocked fallopian tube has affected fertility, its repair where possible may increase the chances of becoming pregnant.
However, the testing of patency – whether or not the tubes are open can be carried out using hysterosalpingography, laparoscopy and dye, or hystero contrast sonography (HyCoSy).
Evidence suggests it probably represents a significant portion of what has previously been classified as ovarian cancer, as much as 80 per cent.
[24] The Greek doctor Herophilus, in his treatise on midwifery, points out the existence of the two ducts that he supposed transported "female semen".
Then Galen, already in the modern era, described that the paired ducts indicated by Herophilus were connected to the uterus.
In 1561, the Renaissance doctor Gabriele Falloppio published his book Observationes Anatomicae.
[27] This article incorporates text in the public domain from page 1257 of the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)