Library · Physiology
Function of the prostate
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The prostate is a walnut-sized gland made of muscle and glandular tissue, and its job has to do with semen. The bulk of semen is produced by three accessory glands, and the prostate is one of the three.
What the prostate contributes is a milky, alkaline fluid, that is, one that counteracts acidity, and it adds this secretion to the seminal fluid as that fluid passes through. And it does something almost no one expects: that fluid first clots the semen, thickening it, and a short time later it breaks the clot down, letting the semen flow again. It works like a temporary parking brake. That thickening helps hold the semen in place and gives the sperm time to use fructose, a sugar supplied to them by the seminal vesicles. First it holds, then it releases, and in that interval what needs to happen happens.
In brief
The prostate, walnut-sized and made of muscular and glandular tissue, is one of three accessory glands that produce the bulk of semen.
It releases into the seminal fluid a milky, alkaline fluid that first clots the semen and then breaks the clot down after ejaculation.
The semen clot works like a parking brake: it holds, then releases on its own.
That temporary thickening helps hold the semen in place and gives sperm time to use fructose from the seminal vesicles.
Sources (1)
- OpenStax, Rice UniversityAnatomy and Physiology 2e, 27.1 Anatomy and Physiology of the Testicular Reproductive SystemPublished
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