AGEING OF THE AXILLARY APOCRINE SWEAT 

 GLANDS IN THE HUMAN FEMALE 



William Montagna 



Department of Biology, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 



This work is based on a large number of biopsy specimens 

 collected with a high-speed rotary biopsy punch, 5 or 10 mm. 

 in diameter, from the axillae of normal volunteer subjects. 

 For the study of normal adult glands, specimens were obtained 

 from women 21 to 36 years old; two biopsy specimens were 

 excised at weekly intervals for four weeks from each of the 

 subjects. Fluctuations, if any occurred, in the morphology 

 of the glands during the menstrual cycle could thus be fol- 

 lowed. Specimens were taken at monthly intervals from 

 several pregnant women and for two months after parturition. 

 Ageing changes were studied in a series of specimens from 

 subjects 41 to 78 years of age. Fewer but comparable speci- 

 mens from men were also studied. 



Apocrine sweat glands occur in most mammals. In the 

 Primates, the lemurs and the Platyrrhines have only apocrine 

 glands, whereas the Catarrhines have both eccrine and apo- 

 crine sweat glands. In the anthropoid apes, the chimpanzee 

 has more eccrine than apocrine glands, but the orang has 

 more apocrine glands (Schiefferdecker, 1922). In the human 

 body apocrine sweat glands are found in the axilla, the mons 

 pubis, the external auditory meatus, the circum-anal area, the 

 areola and nipple of the breast and the labia minora of the 

 female, and in the prepuce and scrotum of the male. Some 

 glands may be found on the face and around the umbilicus. 

 Negroes have more apocrine glands than do Caucasians, and 

 the glands are more numerous in the female than in the male 

 of both races (Homma, 1926). According to Schiefferdecker 

 (1922), the human races can be segregated on the basis of 



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