Effect of high temperature and humidity environment on rat sweat gland cells

Abstract

Objective To study the effect of high temperature and humidity environment on sweat gland function and its possible mechanism. Methods Fourteen Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were fully randomized by randomized digital tables randomly and divided into normal temperature and humidity group (control group) and high temperature and humidity group (test group) (n=7 in each group). The test group was subjected to treat by heat stress after feeding for three days. The rats were exposed to the environment of 40 ℃ and relative humidity of 65% and removed after 2 h, and the samples were taken out after 72 h. The animals in the control group were placed at room temperature without any treatment, and the samples were obtained after 72 h. Results Under the light microscope, the vacuoles of the epithelium of the sweat secretion region were decreased in the test group, and the apoptosis of cells was increased. The apoptosis index was (70.7±14.0)% in the test group, significantly higher than that in the control group [(58.6±11.7)%] (t=2.478, P=0.021). Western blotting showed that the relative expression of M3 receptor in the test group was (1.21±0.16)%, significantly higher than that in the control group [(1.81±0.41)%, t=2.711, P=0.035]. The expression of serum acetylcholine in the test group was significantly lower than that in the control group. The superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity [(13.65±5.14) U/mg] in the test group was significantly lower than that in the control group [(25.89±11.05) U/mg, t=2.633, P=0.023]. Conclusion The damage of sweat gland cells in the high temperature and humidity condition is mainly due to the decrease of tissue antioxidant. Key words: High temperature and humidity; Antioxidant; Sweat gland cell; Superoxide dismutase; M3 receptor