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How Sex Works |
From the time we are teenagers through mid-life or longer, we are capable of sexually reproducing. Sex plays a major role in much of our culture -- we see it in our fashion, literature, music, television and movies.
From a biological standpoint, the goal of sex is to merge two sets of genetic information, one from the father and one from the mother, to make a baby that is genetically different from either parent.
In this article, we will explore the biology of sex -- otherwise known as human sexual reproduction. We will examine the body's sexual organs, the biological cycles of sex, and the process of fertilization.
Plumbing
The primary goal of sex is to merge the sperm and egg (fertilization) to make a baby. In many organisms, sex occurs outside of the body. For example, in most fish or amphibians, females lay eggs somewhere (usually on the sea/river bed), the male comes along and sprays the eggs with sperm and fertilization takes place.
In reptiles and mammals (including humans), fertilization takes place inside the body of the female (internal fertilization). This technique increases the chances of successful sexual reproduction. Because we use internal fertilization, our sexual organs are specialized for this purpose. Let's take a closer look at the sexual organs in males and females.
Male Sex Organs
From the outside, the male has two visible sex organs, the testes and penis. The testes (singular: testis) are the primary male sexual organs in that they make sperm and produce testosterone. The sperm cell is the male sex cell (gamete). Testosterone is the hormone that causes male secondary sex characteristics such as facial and pubic hair, thickened vocal cords and developed muscles.
The testes are housed outside of the main part of the male's body, in a sac called the scrotum. This location is important because in order for the sperm to develop properly, they must be kept at a slightly lower temperature (95 to 97 degrees Fahrenheit, 35 to 36 degrees Celsius) than normal body temperature (98.6 F, 37 C).
The immature sperm travel from each testis to a coiled tube on the outer surface of each testis called the epididymis, where they mature in about 20 days. The sperm exit the body through the penis.
The penis is made of soft, spongy tissue (see How Viagra Works for details). When engorged with blood during sexual excitation and intercourse, the spongy tissue stiffens and causes the penis to become erect, which is important for the penis's main function -- to place the sperm inside the female.
Male sex organs
Delivering Sperm Cells
As mentioned above, sperm are made in the testes. During sexual intercourse, smooth muscles contract and propel mature sperm from the end portions of the epididymis through a long tube (vas deferens or ductus deferens) inside the body, just beneath the bladder. From there, the sperm get mixed with nutrient-rich fluids from the seminal vesicles and a milky secretion from the prostate gland. This combination of sperm and fluids is called semen. The semen does three things:
* Provides a watery environment in which the sperm cells can swim while outside the body
* Provides nutrients for the sperm cells (fructose, amino acids, vitamin C)
* Protects the sperm cells by neutralizing acids in the female's sexual tract
Once the semen is made, it passes through another tube (urethra) within the penis, exiting the body through the opening of the penis.
One last male organ is a tiny, pea-sized set of glands inside the body at the base of the penis, called the bulbourethral or Cowper's glands. During sexual excitation, and just prior to the ejection of sperm (ejaculation), the Cowper's glands secrete a tiny amount of fluid that neutralizes any traces of acidic urine that may be leftover in the urethra. It is also believed that these secretions are designed to lubricate the penis and female tract during sexual intercourse.
Female Sex Organs
All of the female's sexual organs are located within her body except the vulva. The vulva consists of two sets of folded skin (labia major, labia minor) that cover the opening to the reproductive tract, and a small nub of sensitive, erectile tissue (clitoris), which is the remnant of the fetal penis (see next page).
The two ovaries are the major female sex organs, the counterpart of the male testes. The ovaries make the eggs, or oocytes, which are the female gametes, and produce estrogen, the female sex hormone. Estrogen causes female secondary sexual characteristics such as pubic hair, breast development, widening of the pelvis and deposition of body fat in hips and thighs. The ovaries are located in the abdomen.
Female sex organs
Eggs develop inside the ovary and are released upon ovulation into a tube (the oviduct or Fallopian tube) lined with fingerlike projections. The egg travels through the Fallopian tube, where fertilization can take place, to a muscular chamber called the uterus.
The uterus is where the baby develops. It is made of smooth muscle and is normally about the size and shape of a small pear turned upside down. During pregnancy, it can stretch to about the size of a basketball to hold the developing baby. The base of the uterus (neck of the pear) is a muscular wall called the cervix. In the cervix is a tiny opening, about the size of a pinhead, called the external os. The external os is filled with a thick plug of protein (mucus) that serves as a barrier to the entrance of the uterus. The cervix leads into a smooth-muscle-walled tube called the vagina, or birth canal.
The vagina connects the uterus to the outside of the body, and its opening is covered by the labia. The vagina receives the male's penis during sexual intercourse and delivers the baby during childbirth. The vagina is normally narrow (except around the cervix), but can stretch during intercourse and childbirth.
Finally, two sets of glands, the greater vestibular gland (Bartholin's gland) and the lesser vestibular gland, are located on either side of the vagina and empty into the labial folds of skin. The secretions from these glands lubricate the labial folds during sexual excitation and intercourse.
Development of Sex Organs
When we first develop, we have two sets of organs: one that can develop into the female sex organs (Mullerian duct) and one that can develop into the male sex organs (Wolffian ducts). Which sex organs develop depends on the presence of the male hormone testosterone (in humans, the default sex is female):
* If the embryo is a male (XY chromosomes), then testosterone will stimulate the Wolffian duct to develop male sex organs, and the Mullerian duct will degrade.
* If the embryo is female (XX), then no testosterone is made. The Wolffian duct will degrade, and the Mullerian duct will develop into female sex organs. The female clitoris is the remnants of the Wolffian duct.
* If the embryo is a male (XY), but there is a defect such that no testosterone is made, then the Wolffian duct will degrade, and the Mullerian duct will develop into non-functional female sex organs.
Sex-organ development is determined by the third month of development.
Now, let's take a look at some other organs that are important to human sexual function.
Other Organs Involved in Sex
Although not located in the reproductive systems, two other organs are important for sexual function in both males and females:
* The hypothalamus in the brain - The hypothalamus has nerve cells that secrete a hormone called gonatotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) into the blood vessels leading to the anterior pituitary gland.
* The anterior pituitary gland just beneath the brain - GnRH causes the anterior pituitary cells to release two hormones, luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), into the general blood circulation. LH and FSH act on the testes/ovaries to stimulate the making and maturation of the sex cells and the production of sex hormones (testosterone, estrogen, progesterone).
The nerve cells time-release small, low-level spurts of GnRH every 90 minutes, which causes the anterior pituitary to secrete small pulses of LH and FSH. The sex hormones from the testes/ovaries give feedback to the hypothalamus and anterior pituitary to regulate the secretion of GnRH, LH and FSH -- this interplay is called the negative feedback control system. The chemical interplay between the hypothalamus, anterior pituitary gland and the testes/ovaries is important for sexual development, maintaining sexual function and sexual reproduction. An error in this chemical interplay can be a cause of infertility.
Production of Sex Cells
From the time of puberty on, men make sex cells (in the form of sperm cells) continuously. In contrast, by the time a female is born, she has made all of the eggs that she will ever have. As she reaches puberty, the eggs begin to develop and get released, and this process continues until menopause. In both males and females, the production of sex cells involves meiosis, a type of cell division whereby our two sets of genetic instructions are reduced to one set for the sex cell.
Photo courtesy U.S. DOE, Human Genome Project
Each cell in your body contains a set of chromosomes from your mother (her egg) and your father (his sperm). When you look at human chromosomes, they are X-shaped, except for the male Y chromosome. When your body produces sex cells (sperm or egg, depending on whether you are a male or female), your body must reduce the number of chromosomes by half to go into the sex cells. To do this, it randomly sorts chromosomes from both sets in one cell division and then reduces them by half in another. Therefore, each sperm or egg that your body produces is unique and different -- it contains a different mix of your mother's and father's genes. This is why two brothers in the same family can look and act totally different from one another even though they come from the same parents -- it all depends on which genes (chromosomes) were randomly chosen when producing the sex cells of the mother and father.
For more information please see http://health.howstuffworks.com/human-reproduction8.htm |
| Posted on 01 Aug 2008 |
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