A study of the uterine cervix of the mouse

摘要

AbstractThe two uterine horns in the adult are joined caudally to form an externally undivided segment consisting of a cranial and a caudal part. The cranial part becomes wide and swollen at its junction with the horns. It contains two lumina separated by a midline septum and is designated as the uterine body or corpus. The narrow and slightly tapered caudal part projects into the cranial portion of the vagina. It contains a single lumen or canal and is designated as the uterine neck or cervix. The wall of the cranial two‐thirds of the adult cervix contains a relatively large amount of circularly arranged smooth muscle fibers. In contrast, its caudal one‐third consists chiefly of a network of collagen fibers. During cervical development argyrophilic fibers first appear in sections of cervical wall from mice sacrificed at birth. Collagen and smooth muscle fibers are first stainable with the Mallory method in cervical wall sections from mice one week old. During pregnancy and after combined treatment with estradiol, progesterone and relaxin the collagenous fiber bundles of the cervix become looser and more widely separated. This is associated with an increased dilatability of the cervical canal and increased stainability of the ground substance. The muccopolysaccharide(s) demonstrable histochemically in the cervix of the mouse was digestible with testicular hyaluronid