An Ultrastructural and Electron Probe X-Ray Microanalytical Study of Sweat Gland Function

McWilliams, Scott Alexander (1986) An Ultrastructural and Electron Probe X-Ray Microanalytical Study of Sweat Gland Function. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

This thesis was undertaken to determine the ultrastructure of the rat footpad sweat gland before and after pilocarpine stimulation and to assess whether it undergoes the same morphological changes on activation as have been described for other species. A second objective was to measure, by electron probe X-ray microanalysis (EPXMA), the intracellular concentrations of K, Na and Cl in the human and rat atrichial and the horse epitrichial sweat glands before and after stimulation. The final objective was to determine the site and possible mechanism of action of aluminium-containing antiperspirants in the human sweat gland by comparing the ultrastructural and elemental changes before and after a course of antiperspirant treatment. The ultrastructural changes in the rat footpad sweat gland after pilocarpine stimulation included narrowing of the lumen, dilatation of the intercellular spaces, contraction of the myoepithelial cells, exocytosis and the loss of cytoplasmic material from the secretory cells. In general, these changes are qualitatively the same as have been reported in other species after thermal stimulation and it was concluded that the rat gland conforms to the model suggested by Montgomery et al. (1985). Although a successful method was developed for cutting ultrathin cryosections of biological material this was found to be unsuitable for the EPXMA study of sweat glands in skin samples. Using a method of bulk freeze-drying and resin embedding the results from the glands of the three species studied by EPXMA are shown below in mM/kg total dry weight of specimen analysed i. e. biological tissue and embedding medium. In man and horse stimulation was produced by thermal stress and the samples were obtained by high speed biopsy punch. For the rat the samples were obtained by autopsy after pilocarpine stimulation.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Keywords: Physiology
• Date of Award: 1986
• Depositing User: Enlighten Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:1986-77494
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 14 Jan 2020 11:53
• Last Modified: 14 Jan 2020 11:53
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/77494