Human egg makes its accidental debut on camera
These are the clearest pictures ever taken of what is the starting point of every human life: ovulation occurring inside a woman's body.
The release of the oocyte from the ovary is a crucial event in human reproduction. These pictures are clearly important to better understand the mechanism."
Observing ovulation in humans is extremely rare, and previous images have been fuzzy. The author captured the event by accident while preparing to carry out a partial hysterectomy on a 45-year-old woman. The release of an egg was considered a sudden, explosive event, but his pictures, to be published in Fertility and Sterility, show it taking place over a period of at least 15 minutes.
Shortly before the egg is released, enzymes break down the tissue in the mature follicle, a fluid-filled sac on the surface of the ovary that contains the egg. This prompts the formation of a reddish protrusion, and after a while a hole appears, from which the egg emerges, surrounded by support cells. It then enters a Fallopian tube, which carries it to the uterus.