Weight, Size, Macroanatomy, and Histology of the Normal Prostate in the Adult Human Female: A Minireview

Abstract

The female prostate (Skene's paraurethral glands and ducts) is situated in the wall of the female urethra and histologically possesses the same parts as the prostate of the male, ie, glands, ducts, and smooth muscle tissue. The ducts are more numerous than the glands and also exceed the number of the ducts in the male prostate, There is more smooth muscle (musculofibrous tissue) than in the male prostate The prostatic (paraurethral) ducts do not open into the vulva on the sides of the female urethra, but penetrate into the lumen of the urethra along its whole length. It is through the urethra that the female prostate discharges its contents.

The mean weight of the prostate of the adult female is 5.2 gm and its size is 3.3 cm (length) × 1.9 cm (width) × 1 cm (height). 1f we the consider the meatal type, the most frequent type of the female prostate, then the weight would vary the range of 2.6 to 5.2 gm and represent roughly 1/10 to 114 of the mean weight (23.7 gm) of the prostate of the adult male.

Contemporary research has presented the female prostate as a non-vestigial genitourinary organ with exocrine function (production of female prostatic fluid) and cellular equipment for neuroendocrine activity.Its function is re-flected by its particular structure, including the presence of secretory and basal cells in its prostatic glands, which cor-respond in detail to the secretory and basal cells of the prostate in the adult male, The female prostate can be affected by the same diseases as seen in the postpubertal male prostate, although the female prostate is less frequently affected than the male prostate. (The J Histotechnol 23:61, 2000)

Keywords:

• female prostate
• paraurethral ducts
• Skene's
• urethra