Question

After ovulation, the empty follicle becomes a new endocrine gland called as
A. Corpus luteum
B. Corpus albicans
C. Cyst
D. None of the above

Answer 1

Ovulation is the release of one of the ovaries of a woman from an egg. It travels down the Fallopian tube after the egg is released, where fertilisation by a sperm cell may occur.

Complete Answer:
- An oocyte is an egg that is immature (an ovum that is immature). From inside a follicle, oocytes mature to maturity. In the outside layer of the ovaries, these follicles are located. Several follicles begin to form during each reproductive cycle.
- The mechanism is known as ovulation when only one oocyte may become a mature egg and ovulate from its follicle each period. Following ovulation, the corpus luteum forms from the empty follicle left behind. The ovary consists of follicles that are very small sacs filled with fluid, each containing an immature egg (or oocyte).
- Hormones controlled by the hypothalamus and released by the pituitary gland cause a few of these follicles to develop over the first two weeks of the menstrual cycle and the egg to mature within the follicles.
- One follicle ultimately becomes dominant. This is where it comes from the egg that will be released at ovulation. The egg explodes out of the follicle, leaving an empty shell of cells behind it. After the egg is released, those cells go through a transformation, collapsing into themselves and changing the hormones that they secrete. This collapsed follicle is what the corpus luteum becomes.
- Actually, the corpus luteum is a temporary arrangement of the glands. To prepare the body for the chance of pregnancy, it secretes the hormones oestrogen and progesterone. These hormones help build up the uterine lining (to form a nice bed into which the egg can be implanted) and help to preserve the lining.
- The corpus luteum begins to break down if pregnancy does not take place. This contributes to a decline of progesterone and oestrogen, which induces menstruation. The reproductive cycle begins anew. It transforms into the corpus albicans when the corpus luteum is no longer involved.

Thus the correct answer is option (A) Corpus luteum.

Note: A complex relationship between the brain's pituitary gland, the ovaries, and the uterus acts to establish the ideal atmosphere for the occurrence of ovulation (the release of an egg), the meeting of sperm and egg, and the implantation of the fertilised egg into the uterus.