Electron microscopic study on human eccrine sweat glands.

Electron microscope observations on eccrine sweat glands have been carried out by many workers, namely on human eccrine swear glands by HIBBS (1958), IIJIMA (1959), CHRALES (1960), KUROSUMI et al. (1960), and MUNGER (1961) and on those of animals by KITAMURA (1958), MUNGER et al. (1961), ELLIS et al. (1961), MATSUZAWA et al. (1963), KUROSUMI et al. (1964) and TERZAKIS (1964). Already by means of light microscopy, it has been established that the secretory epithelium of the eccrine sweat gland is composed of two types of secretory cells, the superficial or dark cells and the basal or clear cells (ITO 1949 and MONTAGNA 1956). By electron microscopy this finding has been confirmed by almost all investigators mentioned above, but HIBBS (1958) alone proposed the existence of the third cell type or intermediate cells located between secretory cells and myoepithelial cells. these cells, however, were regarded by several authors as modified myoepithelial cells. Although the ultrastructural characteristics of the three cellular components of the secretory portion, the superficial and basal secretory cells as well as myoepithelial cells, have been examined by previous invessigators, several important ultrastructural problems on these cells remain unclarified or in dispute. In the present study the authors have attempted electron microscopic observations on the eccrine sweat glands in human axillary skins obtained operatively from young women to contribute some new findings to the electron microscopic knowledges of the eccrine sweat gland.