Müllerian duct
Urogenital sinus of female human embryo of eight and a half to nine weeks old.
Tail end of human embryo, from eight and a half to nine weeks old.
Latin	d. paramesonephricus
Gray's	subject #252 1206
Carnegie stage	17
Precursor	Intermediate mesoderm
MeSH	Mullerian+Ducts
Dorlands/Elsevier	d_29/12315002

The Müllerian ducts (or paramesonephric ducts) are paired ducts of the embryo which run down the lateral sides of the urogenital ridge and terminate at the mullerian eminence in the primitive urogenital sinus. In the female, it will develop to form the fallopian tubes, uterus, and the upper portion of the vagina. It is tissue of mesodermal origin.

Development

Müllerian duct (blue) develops in females (middle image) and degenerates in males (bottom).

Müllerian duct develops in females and degenerates in males.

Regulation of development

The development of the Müllerian ducts is controlled by the presence or absence of "AMH", or Anti-müllerian hormone (also known as "MIF" for "Müllerian inhibiting factor", or "MIH" for "Müllerian inhibiting hormone").

Eponym

They are named after Johannes Peter Müller, a physiologist who described these ducts in his text "Bildungsgeschichte der Genitalien" in 1830.

Additional images

Enlarged view from the front of the left Wolffian body before the establishment of the distinction of sex.

Transverse section of human embryo eight and a half to nine weeks old.

See also

• Defeminization
• prostatic utricle
• List of homologues of the human reproductive system
• Sexual differentiation
• Wolffian duct

External links

• genital-010 — Embryology at UNC