The uptake and secretion of 3-methylcholanthrene by the prostate glands of the rat and dog.

In anesthetized rats in which prostatic fluid was collected over a 2-hour interval from 24 to 26 hours after a single ip dose of 5 mg [6-14C]3-methylcholanthrene ([14C]MCA)/kg, radioactivity was found in the fluid at levels only slightly less than those in plasma; at 26 hours after treatment, levels of radioactivity within the prostate were higher than those in prostatic fluid or plasma. When unanesthetized dogs with surgically prepared prostatic fistulas were given a single ip dose of 0.5 mg [14C]MCA/kg and when serial prostatic fluid and plasma samples were collected over the ensuing 50 hours (2 dogs) or 212 hours (1 dog), radioactivity appeared in the prostatic fluid at levels initially greater than those in plasma and then fell progressively with time to less than those of plasma. At 50 hours after treatment, radioactivity was recovered from the prostate glands of 2 dogs with fistula and 2 dogs without fistula at levels of about one-fourth those of plasma. Thus it was found that [14C]MCA and/or its metabolites entered the prostate glands and prostatic fluids of the rat and dog.