Female Axillary Apocrine Sweat Glands 191 



Pigment may be found in the tall cells or in the flat ones, and 

 it may be absent from either of them. Neither type of pigment 

 is affected by lipid solvents and both are relatively intact 

 even in paraffin sections. Neither pigment is argyrophilic. 

 The larger, brown granules stain with basic dyes; the small 

 yellow ones are acidophilic. When stained with Altmann's 

 aniline acid fuchsin-methyl green, the small granules, like the 

 mitochondria, are fuchsinophilic ; the medium-sized granules 

 stain green, and the large ones remain unstained. 



The larger pigmented granules are autofluorescent and emit 

 a yellow to orange light, even in paraffin sections (Bommer, 

 1929; Montagna, Chase and Lobitz, 1953). The small yellow 

 pigment granules are either nonfluorescent or emit a pale 

 yellow light of very low intensity. The secretion fluid in the 

 lumen of the tubules emits a very pale autofluorescence. 



The dark pigment contains some lipid and can usually be 

 coloured with sudan black. The sudanophilia of these granules 

 can be demonstrated in paraffin sections (Fig. 7). The yellow 

 pigment is not sudanophilic. Many of the larger pigment 

 masses, but not the small yellow pigment granules, are acid- 

 fast and can be stained with carbolfuchsin and differentiated 

 with hydrochloric acid. The larger pigment granules are 

 mildly positive with the plasma! reaction, indicating the pres- 

 ence of compounds containing aldehydes, ketones, acetals or 

 compounds containing unsaturated groups (Bunting, Wislocki 

 and Dempsey, 1948). 



The large pigment granules are reactive to the periodic 

 acid-Schiff method. The reaction is not diminished by pre- 

 vious treatment with diastase or saliva (Fig. 5). 



The epithelial cells of axillary glands characteristically 

 contain ionic iron (Bunting, 1948; Bunting, Wislocki and 

 Dempsey, 1948; Cavazzana, 1947; Homma, 1925; Homma, 

 1926; Iwashige, 1951; Montagna, Chase and Lobitz, 1953; 

 Zorzoli, 1952). Homma reports that the glands in 70 per cent 

 of the specimens obtained from cadavers and from surgery 

 contained iron, and Manca (1934) found it in 26 out of 27 speci- 

 mens. Some specimens abound in iron, but others may have 



