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

Abstract

The concentration of Zn in the dorsolateral prostate of the rat increases rapidly during infancy, reaching a maximum of 250-300 [mu]g/g at an age of about 160 days. This fugure 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. Zn, which occurs as part of the carbonic anhydrase molecule, forms only a small proportion of the total Zn 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 Zn and enzyme concentrations bear no consistent relationship to one another. Differences between the phosphatases of liver and prostatic complex in the rat are discussed briefly.