Corpus: Scent gland

Scent glands are modified sweat glands with an apocrine mode of secretion.

Scent glands are mainly localised in the axilla, the nipple, the groin, the perianal region (glandulae circumanales) and the pubic region (female: mons pubis, labia majora; male: scrotum).

Scent glands are tubuloalveolar serous glands. Their end pieces are localised in the stratum reticulare of the dermis. Their mode of secretion is described by most authors as apocrine, by others as merocrine. In any case, they have a wider lumen than the merocrine sweat glands. The epithelial cells of the end pieces show numerous secretory vesicles under the light microscope. There are microvilli at the apical cell pole, which are released into the gland lumen by apocytosis. The excretory ducts of the scent glands open into the hair follicles.

The scent glands only become active at the onset of sexual maturity. The secretion is viscous, fatty and slightly alkaline. The secretion is induced by sympathetically, noradrenergically innervated myoepithelial cells in the area of the basal pole of the gland end pieces.

In women, glandular activity may fluctuate with the sexual cycle. As the alkaline and fatty secretions can locally disrupt the acid mantle, the scent glands are susceptible to bacterial infections (sweat gland abscess).