Prostate gland

: A gland within the male reproductive system that is located just below the bladder. Chestnut shaped, the prostate surrounds the beginning of the urethra, the canal that empties the bladder. The prostate is actually not one but many glands, 30-50 in number, between which is abundant tissue containing many bundles of smooth muscle. The secretion of the prostate is a milky fluid that is discharged into the urethra at the time of the ejaculation of semen. The origin of the name "prostate" is quite curious. The word is from the Greek "prostates", to stand before. The anatomist Herophilus called it the prostate because, as he saw matters, it stands before the testes.

* * *

prostate gland n a firm partly muscular partly glandular body that is situated about the base of the mammalian male urethra and secretes an alkaline viscid fluid which is a major constituent of the ejaculatory fluid called also prostate

* * *

a male accessory sex gland that opens into the urethra just below the bladder and vas deferens. During ejaculation it secretes an alkaline fluid that forms part of the semen. The prostate may become enlarged in elderly men (benign prostatic hyperplasia; BPH). This may result in obstruction of the neck of the bladder, impairing urination. The bladder dilates and the increased pressure is transmitted through the ureters to the kidney nephrons, leading to damage and impaired function of the kidneys. Treatment is by transurethral resection of the prostate (see also prostatectomy) or by means of drugs (finasteride or alpha blockers).

* * *

prostate.