Prostate at a glance
- What it is
- The prostate is a walnut-sized gland surrounding the first part of the male urethra.
- Location
- It lies in the pelvis below the bladder, in front of the rectum, behind the pubic symphysis, and can be palpated through the anterior rectal wall.
- Function
- It secretes a thin, slightly acidic fluid rich in citrate, zinc and enzymes such as PSA. This forms about 20 to 30 percent of semen.
- Body system
- Reproductive · single, midline structure
- FMA ID
- FMA9600 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Surrounds the prostatic urethra; typical adult weight is about 20 g.
- Zones: peripheral (about 70 percent of glandular tissue), central, transition, plus the anterior fibromuscular stroma.
Clinical relevance
Benign prostatic hyperplasia (transition zone) causes urinary obstruction; cancer arises mostly in the peripheral zone.
Structures next to the prostate
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Calcaneal branches of posterior tibial artery · cardiovascular
- Skin · skin
- Puborectalis · muscular
- Urinary bladder · urinary
- Seminal vesicle · reproductive
- Pubococcygeus · muscular
- Rectum · digestive
- External anal sphincter · muscular
- Dorsal artery of penis · cardiovascular
- Deferent duct · reproductive
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Prostate (FMA9600). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
- OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §27.1 Anatomy and Physiology of the Testicular Reproductive System. Rice University, 2022.
- Mitsuhashi N. et al. (2009). BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts. Nucleic Acids Research 37, D782–D785. Data © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0.
Related anatomy
Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.