Anterior Prostate

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The prostate of rodents, unlike that of man, contains separate lobes: anterior (coagulating gland), dorsal, lateral (the dorsal and lateral lobes are frequently combined as dorsolateral), and ventral. All lobes consist of branching blind-ending tubules that are surrounded by a thin fibromuscular layer; between the tubules (glands) is loose connective tissue. The prostate glands contain luminal secretory, basal, and neuroendocrine (<0.3%) cells, but the basal and neuroendocrine cells can be identified by light microscope only after immunostaining for a cell-specific marker (e.g., keratin 5 for basal cells, chromogranin for neuroendocrine cells). The secretions of the prostate glands are carried by ducts to the colliculus seminalis. After copulation the prostate secretions together with the secretions of the seminal vesicles and bulbourethral glands form the copulatory plug to keep semen within the vagina.

The prostate lobes differ from each other in the appearance of both the epithelium lining the glands and the secretion in the gland lumen. The anterior prostate has cuboidal to columnar epithelium that has many mucosal folds projecting into the gland lumen. In the epithelium are luminal secretory cells with centrally located nuclei. The lumen of the anterior prostate contains abundant eosinophilic secretions.

All micrographs show that the anterior prostate is embedded in adipose and loose connective tissues. The 4X micrograph presents the folded mucosa of the anterior prostate. The 10X, 20X, and 40X micrographs show, in increasing detail, the anterior prostate glands. The luminal secretory cells with centrally located nuclei are visible in the 20X and 40X micrographs.