A structure called the rete ovarii is situated next to the ovaries and is extremely difficult to see with the naked eye KATERYNA KON/SPL/GETTY
A key component of the female reproductive system may have been overlooked. Research into the rete ovarii, an appendage of the ovaries that has previously been dismissed as useless, suggests it has an important role after all.
“We think it is regulating the timing or rate of ovulation,” says at Duke University in North Carolina. “It may control how many [ovarian] follicles are activated in one’s cycle or when they are activated.”
Her team…
