THE HISTOCHEMICAL-LOCALIZATION OF ACID-PHOSPHATASE IN HUMAN-FETAL URETHRAL AND PROSTATIC EPITHELIUM

Abstract

Acid phosphatase activity was studied with light microscopic and EM histochemical techniques in the epithelium of the urogenital system of human fetuses 7 to 13 wk of age. Acid phosphatase activity was present throughout the period in the epithelium of the urogenital sinus except in the posterior part near the openings of the mesonephric and paramesonephric ducts; these ducts showed very little or no activity. The prostatic epithelium appearing in the 10th wk showed lysosomal acid phosphatase activity and a few of its cells showed acid phosphatase-positive apical granules suggesting the appearance of secretory acid phosphatase. The acid phosphatase activity of the urethral epithelium on colliculus seminalis differs from that elsewhere, indicating a different origin or a different response to maternal or fetal hormones.