Skin sterols. XII. Contrasting effects of certain mercaptans, amines, and related compounds on sterols and sebaceous glands.

The application of carcinogenic hydrocarbons to skin results in a rapid destruction of the seba ceous glands (3, 7, 13), and it has been suggested that a histological screening test for carcinogens might be based upon this phenomenon (13). Inde pendent studies on skin sterols have revealed that the application of carcinogens to rodent skin de creases the amount of A7-cholestenol in the epider mis within 5 days, whereas chemically related noncarcinogens do not affect this sterol (2, 4) ; accord ingly, it was suggested that a rapid screening test for carcinogens might be based on sterol analysis (2, 4). More recently, much indirect evidence has pointed toward the sebaceous glands as the loca tion of the A7-cholestenol in the epidermis (2, 5, 6), and a direct demonstration of this conclusion has been achieved by staining sections of skin with an appropriately modified Liebermann-Burchard re agent (3). The questions remain whether the integrity of the sebaceous glands is necessary for the mainte nance of high concentrations of A7-cholestenol in skin, and whether losses in A7-cholestenol are