Sweat and Oil Glands

Sebaceous Glands

There are two types of glands in the human body. Well actually that’s not true there’s lots of glands but there’s only two types of sweat glands. There are sebaceous glandsOil-producing glands in the skin that secrete sebum. which are glands that secrete oil or the official name sebumAn oily secretion that helps keep the skin and hair moisturized.. There are also sudoriferous glandsSweat glands responsible for temperature regulation and waste excretion. which are glands that secrete sudorAnother term for sweat. which we call sweat. As you can see here sebaceous glands are basically these little cloud like bubbles that come off of hairs.

This is why they secrete the lubricating substance of oil. It lubricates the hair as it pierces the skinThe body’s largest organ, providing protection and regulation.. Then the hair grows. You do not have hair in the thick skinSkin found on the palms and soles, containing an extra layer (stratum lucidum). of the palms of your hands. The soles of your feet also lack hair. You do not have sebaceous glands in those areas. Sebaceous glands are usually very abundant and large in the places that we associate with acne. These glands are abundant and secrete see them often in places like the face the chest and the neckNarrow region just below the head; common fracture site..

There are other places where they cause acne as well but those three are the most common places. I want to point out here that sebaceous glands are lined with epithelial cellsThe basic structural and functional units of life.. Look at the picture on the left very carefully. The epidermisThe outermost layer of the skin, made of stratified squamous epithelium. dips down to cover the entire length of the hair. Observe how it actually surrounds the sebaceous gland as well. This is true that sebaceous and sudoriferous glands are lined by epithelial cells, usually simple cuboidal. But because glands are lined with epithelial cells, we can easily see the dark purple stain.

We can see them here on the picture on the right. They appear as a collection of tubes next to the hair. All these tubes are holding the sebum. You can see the arrector pili here. It is the smooth muscle that draws the hair to an erect position. There is a condition very common to babies called cradle cap. This is not a bad thing. It just happens sometimes weeks or months after the baby is born. The sebaceous glands in the scalp start to overact a little bit. You get this skull cap on your baby. 

Sudoriferous Glands

Sudoriferous glands secrete sweat and are located all over the body in thin and thick skin but are not located at armpits and genitalia. The major function of sudoriferous glands is thermoregulation. These glands secrete waterThe universal solvent essential for life. onto the surface of skin. Because of water’s high heat capacityThe amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of a substance. it brings heat along with it. As the sweat evaporates, the heat changes from liquid to water vapor form. Then it diffuses away from the skin and cools down the body. Although sweat is 99% water there are other things in it such as salts antibodies and wastes.

There is something called your acid mantleA thin, slightly acidic film on the skin that acts as a barrier to bacteria and contaminants.. It is similar to a very thin layer of sweat that surrounds your entire body. However, it serves more of an immune function. This is because it contains immunoglobulins(Ig) Antibodies: Proteins produced by the immune system to target specific antigens. or antibodies. Your acidA substance that releases hydrogen ions (H⁺) in solution. mantle is different than my acid mantle. This is why the same skin products don’t work the same for different people. Also, your acid mantle plays a role in immunity. It’s not good to purchase soaps that strip your skin of your acid mantle. These soaps dry it out. How can you tell if this happens? If your skin feels tight after washing it then that soap is washing away your acid mental.

There are two sweat glands on this cube of skin right here. One of these sweat glands connects to a sweat pore located on the surface of the skin. That’s the one you can see right here on the left. Notice how it’s also coiled at the end. Therefore, it’s capable of making and holding a lot of sweat and releasing it when necessary. This other sweat gland here, however, does not dump out onto the surface of the skin. Instead, it dumps out into the area located between the epidermal cells and the keratin-rich hair. This provides extra lubrication.

If you cut any of these coiled up sweat glands in half, the histological picture on the right would be visible. You would see this image on the right. This picture is stained with something called Masson’s trichrome. It does not produce the pink and purple colors of the H&E stain you are used to seeing. The epithelial cells are colored red here. They are all surrounding the lumenThe inside space of a hollow organ or structure. of the coiled-up sweat gland. The blue tissue around it is tissue of the dermisThe thick inner layer of the skin that contains blood vessels, nerves, and connective tissue.. In mason’s trichrome stained collagenA structural protein in the dermis that provides strength and elasticity. fiber stain blue. Each sweat gland has its own dedicated nerve. This nerve ultimately connects to the outgoing nerves of your hypothalamusA small but vital brain region controlling hormones, temperature, and autonomic functions. in your brain. It monitors body temperature and makes involuntary adjustments without your knowledge.

Sudor

There are two types of sudoriferous glands. Students constantly get this confused because there are two types of sweat glands sudoriferous and sebaceous. There are two types of the sudoriferous glands. Eccrine glands and apocrine glands are for thermoregulation. They are located in the places that start to sweat first when you’re either hot or flustered. They respond to thermoregulation. They also have some kind of emotional response that we’re learning about. Usually it’s a fear based emotional response but we are learning about it

There are lots of those eccrine on your palms, your forehead, and the soles of your feet. A nicotine patch on any of these places would not work. It would fail to deliver nicotine into your blood vessels. The time-release nicotine in the patch cannot reach your blood vessels. Because sweat as well as epidermal cells and oxygen and glucoseA simple sugar that is the main source of energy for cells. from blood all diffuse superficially. Any type of patch faces challenges delivering its medicine. The patch wants its medication to penetrate deeply. All the structures and substances in skin are moving superficially.

Apocrine glands are very abundant in axillary or armpit and anogenital areas. We are still uncertain about their function. When I went to school, pheromones were just a whole bunch of crap. It is not. We find that there are substances and chemicals released from these apocrine glands. They are different than many of the other hormones in your body. We are unsure what their function is. Recovering a chemical from a gland is easy. Finding where that chemical is used in the body is not so easy. Many theories about pheromones relate to attractiveness. They suggest an increase in the ability to find and attract a mate. Yes, these substances are used in other animals and mammals. We are gradually providing evidence for their use in humans.