Female Pelvis & Breast
Body of uterus
A thick-walled muscular organ in the middle of the pelvis, between the bladder in front and the rectum behind. Its cavity is lined by endometrium, which thickens and is shed through the menstrual cycle and which supports an implanted embryo.
How to spot it. The main, widest part of the uterus, between the fundus above and the narrower lower segment below.
What it does. Its inner lining thickens and is shed through the menstrual cycle, and it is where an embryo implants.
Where it sits. Continuous above with the fundus and below with the lower uterine segment and cervix; the uterine tubes enter at the cornua.
NEET points
Class 12 · Unit VI · Reproduction · Human Reproduction
- Three layers: the outer perimetrium, the thick muscular myometrium that produces the strong contractions of labour, and the glandular endometrium that goes through the menstrual cycle.
- The endometrium is what is shed at menstruation and what the blastocyst implants into. Implantation follows fertilisation by about a week.
- The cycle averages 28 to 29 days; ovulation falls near day 14 on an LH surge, and menstruation follows only if the ovum is not fertilised.
- It is shaped like an inverted pear and is supported by ligaments attached to the pelvic wall.
Chapter numbering moved when NCERT rationalised its books in 2023 and the NTA has revised the NEET syllabus since, so this maps by unit and title. It is a study aid, not a syllabus.