ZINC, CARBONIC ANHYDRASE, AND PHOSPHATASE IN THE PROSTATIC GLANDS OF THE RAT

Abstract

The concentration of zinc in the dorsolateral prostate of the rat increases rapidly during infancy, reaching a maximum of 250-300 μgm./gm. at an age of about 160 days. This figure is 10 times as high as that found for most other soft tissues. Carbonic anhydrase activity behaves similarly, with a maximum at about 200 days, when it is 100 times the amount found in most other organs. Zinc which occurs as part of the carbonic anhydrase molecule forms only a small proportion of the total zinc content of the tissue at all ages. Zinc and carbonic anhydrase occur only in small amounts in the ventral prostate. The activities of acid and alkaline phosphatases in ventral and dorsolateral prostates are not correlated with age, and zinc and enzyme concentrations bear no consistent relationship to one another. Differences between the phosphatases of liver and prostatic complex in the rat are briefly discussed.