Ultrastructure of human eccrine sweat glands with special reference to the transitional portion.

Electron Microscopic Observation of the Transitional Portion in the Human Eccrine Sweat Gland.

“…Myoepithelial cells in the secretory segment are characterized by infranuclear thick bundles of myofilaments with irregularly-scattered dense bodies and caveolae along the cell surface (ELLIS, 1965;KUROSUMI et al, 1982). Although weakly developed, similar morphological features were recognized in the basal cells in the secretory segment side of the transitional portion.…”

“…The columnar cells of the transitional portion have been characterized by smooth round or tubular vesicules in the apical cytoplasm (SHIBASAKI and ITO, 1967;KUROSUMI et al, 1982;MONTGOMERY et al, 1985). SHIBASAKI and ITO (1967) found numerous smooth vesicles in these cells of the human eccrine sweat gland of the axilla.…”

“…The nature of basal cells in the transitional portion has been controversial. They have been described as myoepithelial cells by some authors (HIBBS, 1958;KUROSUMI et al, 1982), but not by the others (SHIBA-SAKI and ITO, 1967;HASHIMOTO, 1978;MONTGOMERY et al, 1985). To elucidate the real nature of basal cells in the transitional portion represented one of the most important problems in this study.…”

“…However, only a few studies have briefly described the ultrastructure of the transitional portion in human eccrine sweat glands (HIBBS, 1958;SHIBASAKI and ITO, 1967;HASHIMOTO, 1978;KUROSUMI et al, 1982;MONTGOMERY et al, 1985), arising from the difficulty in detecting short part in the routine observations of the gland. Probably owing to insufficient investigations of this portion, there have been some divergent considerations among previous studies, especially concerning the nature of basal cells.…”

“…Probably owing to insufficient investigations of this portion, there have been some divergent considerations among previous studies, especially concerning the nature of basal cells. The basal cells have been ultrastructurally described as myoepithelial cells only by HIBBS (1958), KuRosuMI et al (1982), and not by SHIBASAKI and ITO (1967), HASHIMOTO (1978), or MONTGOMERY et al (1985.…”