What does the apocrine gland do

Apocrine sweat glands, which are usually associated with hair follicles, continuously secrete a fatty sweat into the gland tubule. Emotional stress causes the tubule wall to contract, expelling the fatty secretion to the skin, where local bacteria break it down into odorous fatty acids.

Secretory Coil

While the dark cells border the apical (luminal) surfaces, the clear cells rest either directly on the basement membrane or on the on the myoepithelial cells. The clear cells directly access the lumen by forming intercellular canaliculi (Fig. 83-2).

Rather than responding to temperature, apocrine glands often respond to emotional stimuli including anxiety and fear. Under these circumstances, sweating is often observed in the armpits, palms, and soles of the feet [191–193]. For decades it was believed that these are the only two types of sweat glands.

The distinct characteristic of apocrine glands is that they secrete their product through decapitation, which entails membrane budding of the apical cytoplasm.

Sweat glands, also known as sudoriferous or sudoriparous glands, from Latin sudor ‘sweat’, are small tubular structures of the skin that produce sweat. Sweat glands are a type of exocrine gland, which are glands that produce and secrete substances onto an epithelial surface by way of a duct.