Histological and quantitative analyzes of the stromal and acinar components of normal human prostate zones

BACKGROUND McNeal divided the human prostate into three major anatomical areas: the peripheral zone (PZ), the central zone (CZ), and the transition zone (TZ). Each of these areas is biologically and histologically distinct. The PZ and TZ have clinical significance and are associated with prostate cancer (PC) and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), respectively. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to quantitatively and qualitatively analyze the parenchymal and stromal components that constitute the different prostate zones. METHODS We assessed 19 samples from each prostate zone. The samples were obtained from necropsies of young people between 18 and 32 years of age with intact urogenital tracts. The samples were fixed in 4% buffered formalin and processed for paraffin embedding. Sections with a thickness of five micrometres were obtained from each sample. The sections were stained using histochemical and immunohistochemical techniques to identify the acinar and stromal components of each zone. Photomicrographs were obtained for morphometric analysis using an algorithm based on color segmentation. Data were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with the Bonferroni post-test. Differences with P