Sexual Reproduction in Humans
The male reproductive system
Structures of the male reproductive system
The male reproductive system has several key components
The structure and function of these components can be seen in the table below
Structure Function
Prostate
Produces a fluid that mixes with sperm cells to form semen
gland
Sperm passes through the sperm duct to be mixed with fluids produced by the glands before being p
Sperm duct
the urethra for ejaculation
Tube running down the centre of the penis that can carry out urine or semen, a ring of muscle in th
Urethra
prevents the urine and semen from mixing
Testis Contained within a bag of skin (scrotum) and produces sperm (male gamete) and testosterone ho
Sac supporting the testes outside the body to ensure that sperm are kept at a temperature slightly lo
Scrotum
body temperature
Passes urine out of the body from the bladder and allows semen to pass into the vagina of a woma
Penis
sexual intercourse
The male reproductive system diagram
The male reproductive system
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The female reproductive system
Structures of the female reproductive system
The female reproductive system has several key components
The structure and function of these components can be seen in the table below
Structur
Function
e
Connects the ovary to the uterus and is lined with ciliated cells to push the released ovum down it. Fe
Oviduct
occurs here
Ovary Contains ova (female gametes) which will mature and develop when hormones are released
Uterus Muscular bag with a soft lining where the fertilised egg (zygote) will be implanted to develop into
Cervix Ring of muscle at the lower end of the uterus to keep the developing foetus in place during pregn
The muscular tube that leads to the inside of the woman's body where the males penis will enter duri
Vagina
intercourse and sperm are deposited
The female reproductive system diagram
The female reproductive system
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Gametes & Fertilisation
What is fertilisation?
Fertilisation is the fusion of the nuclei from a male gamete (sperm cell) and a
female gamete (egg cell)
It occurs in the oviducts
Gametes have adaptations to increase the chances of fertilisation and successful
development of an embryo
Fertilisation diagram
The sperm enters the egg cell during fertilisation which usually occurs in the
oviduct
Adaptations of Gametes
Human gametes
The human gametes are the egg and the sperm cells
Egg and sperm cell diagram
Comparing sperm and egg cells
Adaptive features of the gametes
The gametes are highly specialised cells with adaptive features designed to
maximise the chances of successful reproduction
These adaptive features are compared in the table below
Gamete Adaptive feature Function
has a flagellum (tail) allows the sperm to swim towards the egg
contains enzymes in the head region
Sperm to digest a route into the egg for fertilisation
(acrosome)
Comparative contains many mitochondria to provide energy for movement of the flagellu
Sperm Egg
Feature
to provide energy for cell division in the developing z
cytoplasm contains
Very small (45 a store of energy
Size Large (0.15 mm) fertilisation
Egg µm)
jelly-like coating that changes after to make an impenetrable barrier after fertilisation to
Head region,
fertilisation more sperm entering the egg
flagellum, many Round cell with few structure adaptations, covered in a jelly
Structure
structural coating
adaptations
Capable of
Motility Not capable of locomotion
locomotion
Produced every
day in huge
Thousands of immature eggs in each ovary, but only one is
Numbers numbers (around
released each month
100 million per
day)
Comparison of Male & Female Gametes
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Pregnancy: growth & development
of the fetus
After fertilisation in the oviduct, the zygote travels towards the uterus
o This takes about 3 days, during which time the zygote will divide several
times to form a ball of cells known as an embryo
In the uterus, the embryo embeds itself in the thick lining (implantation) and
continues to grow and develop
The gestation period for humans is 9 months
o Major development of organs takes place within the first 12 weeks,
during which time the embryo gets nutrients from the mother by diffusion
through the uterus lining
o After this point the organs are all in place, the placenta has formed and the
embryo is now called a fetus
o The remaining gestation time is used by the fetus to grow bigger in size
The fetus is surrounded by an amniotic sac which contains amniotic fluid (made
from the mother’s blood plasma)
o This protects the fetus during development by cushioning it from
bumps to the mother’s abdomen
The umbilical cord joins the fetus’s blood supply to the placenta for exchange of
nutrients and removal of waste products
The fetus in the uterus
The placenta & umbilical cord:
extended
What is the the placenta and the umbilical
cord?
During the gestation period the fetus develops and grows by gaining the glucose,
amino acids, fats, water and oxygen it needs from the mother’s blood
The bloods run opposite each other, never mixing, in the placenta
The fetus’s blood connects to and from the placenta by the umbilical cord
The mother’s blood also absorbs the waste from the fetus’s blood in the placenta;
substances like carbon dioxide and urea are removed from the fetus’s blood so
that they do not build up to dangerous levels
Movement of all molecules across the placenta occurs by diffusion due
to difference in concentration gradients
The placenta is adapted for this diffusion by having a large surface area and
a thin wall for efficient diffusion
Toxins and pathogens
The placenta acts as a barrier to prevent toxins and pathogens getting into the
fetus’s blood
Not all toxin molecules or pathogenic organisms (such as viruses, eg rubella)
are stopped from passing through the placenta (this usually depends on the size of
the molecule)
This is why pregnant women are advised not to smoke during pregnancy as
molecules like nicotine can pass across the placenta
Placenta and umbilical cord diagram
The placenta