Histologic Observations on the Human Apocrine Sweat Gland in Health and Disease

Abstract

Recently, Holyoke and Lobitz (1) reported upon the histologic variations which occur in the structure of the human eccrine sweat gland. The present study was undertaken to secure parallel data with respect to the apocrine sweat gland. Histopathologists have had little acquaintance with the apocrine gland since relatively few biopsies are obtained from apocrine areas such as the axilla, and, of these, most are too superficial to include the glands. Review of 25,000 biopsy reports and specimens in the dermatologie files at the University of Pennsylvaniaf revealed 146 to be from the axilla. However, only 12 proved to be adequate for observation of the apocrine gland. It became obvious that broader knowledge of the histology of the apocrine sweat gland could come only after a study of axillary biopsies of adequate size and depth. With this in mind, we surgically excised axillary skin from 75 patients with a variety of diseases involving the axilla (Table 1). Another 75 biopsy specimens from normal axillae were excised for control data. All of the specimens were over 2 cm. in length and of such depth as to include subcutaneous fat. They were serially sectioned to permit complete study of the entire range of changes. Staining was done routinely with hematoxylin and eosin.