Macroscopical and histomorphological studies of rat prostate gland

Rat prostate gland which is used in various investigations has a considerable morphological differences with other mammals. There are few reports about its structure. So، this study was carried out for determining of histomorphological and anatomical structure of rat prostate. Five healthy adult male rats with average weight 180±20 grs and approximately 3-3. 5 months age were studied. Samples were taken from different lobes، and 5-6 µm sections were made using paraffin embedding method. Sections were stained with H & E and PAS. The histometrical studies were done using digital Dino-Lite lens and Dino- capture 1 Software. The macroscopic results showed that the rat prostate consisted of four lobes including: anterior، ventral، dorsal، and lateral lobes، which lateral lobe، divided into 2 sub lobes of types 1 and 2. Microscopicopical observation showed that prostate parenchyma consisted of secretory ducts and secretory alveolo-tubular units. The secretory alveolar units have many folds but these folds are vary in different lobes، so that the anterior lobe has the maximum folded secretory units and they are spread across the entire lob but they were located in peripheral zone of other lobes. The alveolar cells have different staining intensity، so that the alveolar cells of the lateral lobe 1 is more acidophilic than other lobes. The proportion of secretory units to secretory ducts varied in different lobes، so that the dorsal lobe has maximum proportion. Tubular units are usually free of folds and mostly are located in the center of the lobes. The results showed that the epithelial secretory units has twice thickness compare to secretory ducts. Thes difference is significant (P≥0. 05).