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ovary
(oŽvә-re)
the female gonad; either of the pair of sex glands in the female in which the oocytes are formed. One is on either side of
the uterus, usually near the lateral pelvic wall next to the anterior superior iliac spine. The ovaries have two basic functions:
ovulation and the production of hormones (chiefly estrogen and progesterone) that influence a woman's feminine physical characteristics and affect the process of reproduction. adj., ovarŽian., adj.
Ovary. Inset shows the ovarian microstructure, with the stages of ovarian follicle development depicted counterclockwise from
the top right, showing follicles progressively more mature: from primordial to primary, secondary, then tertiary, followed
by ovulation, and finally corpora lutea from maturation to degeneration.
Copyright 2007. An Elsevier publication. All rights reserved.
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