Female Axillary Apocrine Sweat Glands 197 



lumen is dilated, and the secretory cells average taller. The 

 myoepithelial cells are believed to be swollen and farther 

 apart during the menstruum. During pregnancy the changes 

 are like those which occur during the menstruum but they 

 are much more pronounced (Talke, 1903; Waelsch, 1912). 

 Contrary to all others a few authors (Cornbleet, 1952; Loes- 

 chcke, 1925; Richter, 1932) believe that during pregnancy the 

 axillary glands are in a resting state or that their function is 

 depressed. Although these concepts are accepted unquestion- 

 ingly, evidence to the contrary deserves some scrutiny (Klaar, 

 1926). 



Unlike the other authors, all of whom studied apocrine 

 glands in autopsy material, Klaar (1926) obtained biopsy 

 specimens from the same women at weekly intervals during 

 the menstrual cycle. He found in normal women no changes in 

 the axillary organ which correspond to the cyclic menstrual 

 changes, and concluded that there is no correlation between 

 functional activity and the diameter of the gland, and that the 

 differences in the height of the secretory epithelial cells and 

 their content of iron in no way corresponds to the menstrual 

 cycle. During pregnancy and in puerperium the glands ex- 

 hibit individual range of variation similar to that found in 

 non-pregnant women. In women after menopause, the glan- 

 dular epithelium exhibited a wide range of variations ; they all 

 had some characteristic dilated or "cystic" tubules lined by 

 flattened epithelial cells and surrounded by a thick connec- 

 tive tissue capsule. Normal glands, however, could be found 

 alongside of the cystic tubules even fifteen years after the onset 

 of the menopause. In castrated women a general slow regres- 

 sion of the apocrine glands is similar to that seen after the 

 menopause. 



Our observations are in complete agreement with those 

 of Klaar. We have been unable to correlate any changes in 

 the axillary glands with the menstrual cycle. Similarly, no 

 changes have been found in biopsy specimens removed at 

 monthly intervals from pregnant women. Thus, there do not 

 appear to be definite cyclic changes in the axillary apocrine 



