The Prostate Gland

The prostate gland contains smooth muscles, it borders the bladder and it surrounds the urethra. It also produces semen. This liquid contains enzymes and proteins to protect the sperm. This is known as the follicle phase. This is where the follicle produces more estrogen, which tells the brain that the egg is ready to be released. The uterine lining then thickens as the LH and FSH levels stay low. The production of gametes is due to meiosis. Meiosis is where cells divide to produce four daughter cells. These contain half of the genetic information.The four daughter cells produced contain half of the genetic information which is also half the number of chromosomes of the parent cell to produce haploids.The gametes used during reproduction are the sperm and the egg which are haploids. Each of these contain half of the chromosomes (23 chromosomes).

When fertilisation occurs they form a zygote.To produce these gametes the parent cell duplicates and the chromosomes split into pairs. These pairs then divide to form two cells which then split again to form four daughter cells which are the gametes.This process is called gametogenesis where cells use meiosis to form gametes. For males the production of sperm is called spermatogenesis and for women the production of eggs are called oogenesis.

During spermatogenesis sperm cells are produced from stem cells. These stem cells multiply by mitosis to create sperm cells which then attach to the Sertoli cells. The sperm cells produced contain 23 chromosomes. The sperm cells are produced within the seminiferous tubules from the stem cells and are surrounded by Sertoli cells. These Sertoli cells give the sperm cells nutrients and products from the blood. They also help to transport the sperm to the central channel as they grow.During oogenesis an egg cell divides to produce two new cells. The nucleus would have split to give each cell 23 chromosomes.

One of the cells is the secondary ovum and the other is the polar body. The secondary ovum continues to grow until it reaches full maturity and is then ready for fertilisation when released into the fallopian tubes. The zygote is formed during fertilisation when the two gametes (egg and sperm) fuse together. The gametes are haploid cells which fuse to create a diploid cell (zygote). A diploid cell is a cell which contains 46 chromosomes. An example of a zygote is an embryo. Once the egg cell is fertilised, it is implanted into the uterus. The zygote is a eukaryotic cell which contains the necessary genetic information from the DNA in each gamete. The zygote then divides into smaller cells by mitosis. This division helps to form the embryo.