THE CONNECTIVE-TISSUE SHEATH OF UTERUS AND VAGINA IN THE HUMAN FEMALE FETUS

A morphological study concerning the development and arrangement of the connective tissue surrounding uterus and vagina was performed by investigating epoxy resin impregnated sections through the pelves of 9-37-week-old female fetuses, of newborn children and a three-year-old child. In order to study the histology of the connective tissue in detail paraffin, semithin and ultrathin sections were used. The organization of the pelvic connective tissue in female fetuses can best be studied in middle-aged fetuses (19-28 weeks of gestation). We here report that no supportive ligaments of the uterus are found in fetuses of that age group, but that the connective tissue covering uterus and vagina is part of the connective tissue sheaths of neighbouring structures. The fetal uterus is interposed between dense sub-peritoneal connective tissue circularly covering the vesico-and rectouterine pouch. Dorsally the subperitoneal tissue of the rectouterine pouch joins the circularly arranged connective tissue of the rectal adventitia. A triangularly-shaped plate of dense connective tissue is situated at each lateral border of the cervix uteri. Dorsally it is continuous with the circularly running fibres of the rectouterine pouch. Whereas the dorsal wall of the vagina is loosely connected with the rectal adventitia, fibrous connective tissue intimately fuses the muscular wall of the vagina with that of the neck of the bladder and of the urethra. No evidence is provided for the existence of smooth muscle cells and elastic material within the connective tissue covering the fetal uterus.