Determination of the maximum rate of eccrine sweat glands’ ion reabsorption using the galvanic skin conductance to local sweat rate relationship

Pharmacologic responsiveness of the eccrine sweat gland has never been studied under well-defined in vitro experimental conditions. Using isolated cannulated single monkey palm eccrine sweat glands, the dose response to both cholinergic and alpha- and beta-adrenergic agents and the effects of various antagonists on agonists were studied. The maximal sweat rate was highest after stimulation with cholinergic agonists, was lower with the beta-adrenergic agonist, and was least with the alpha-adrenergic agonist. Each secretory response was inhibited by its specific antagonist. Attempts to demonstrate the spare receptor, if any, by means of preincubation of the glands with N-(2-chlorethyl)dibenzylamine (Dibenamine) were unsuccessful. From the hyperbolic dose-response curves the values for KA and KB, dissociation constants for agonists and antagonists, respectively, were thus tentatively estimated according to Clark's classical receptor theory. Schild plots for each agonist-antagonist interaction produced straight lines with slopes of near unity, indicating the adequacy of the methodology. It was concluded that the isolated eccrine sweat glands retain their pharmacologic viability in vitro and show responsiveness to cholinergic as well as both alpha- and beta-adrenergic stimulations.

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Role of calcium in cholinergic and adrenergic mechanisms of eccrine sweat secretion

AJP Cell Physiology ◽

10.1152/ajpcell.1981.241.3.c113 ◽

1981 ◽

Vol 241 (3) ◽

pp. C113-C120 ◽

Cited By ~ 44

Author(s):

K. Sato ◽

F. Sato

Keyword(s):

Sweat Rate ◽

Sweat Glands ◽

Hyperbolic Function ◽

Ionophore A23187 ◽

Secretory Rate ◽

Sweat Secretion ◽

Eccrine Sweat Glands ◽

Eccrine Sweat

The role of Ca2+ in eccrine sweat secretion was studied using isolated cannulated monkey palm eccrine sweat glands in vitro. Removal of Ca2+ from the incubation medium promptly abolished sweat secretion induced by methacholine or phenylephrine. In contrast, isoproterenol-induced sweat secretion lasted from 40 to 220 min in a Ca2+-free medium. The methacholine-induced maximal sweat rate was a hyperbolic function of the Ca2+ concentration in the bath and reached a plateau at 1 mM Ca2+. Higher Ca2+ concentrations rather suppressed the secretory rate. The Ca2+ ionophore A23187, but not X537A, at 3 X 10(-6) M induced copious prolonged sweat secretion after a latent period of 10 min. A23187-induced sweat secretion was not inhibited by either atropine or propranolol. D 600 (methoxyverapamil) at 10(-3) M inhibited sweat secretion induced by methacholine or by isoproterenol, although the latter lasted longer than methacholine sweating (20 vs. 5 min) in the presence of D 600. The data support the notion that Ca2+ influx into the cell plays a crucial role in cholinergic and alpha-adrenergic sweating, whereas a partial supply of Ca2+ for isoproterenol-induced sweating is derived from an intracellular store.

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Effect of VIP on sweat secretion and cAMP accumulation in isolated simian eccrine glands

AJP Regulatory Integrative and Comparative Physiology ◽

10.1152/ajpregu.1987.253.6.r935 ◽

1987 ◽

Vol 253 (6) ◽

pp. R935-R941 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

K. Sato ◽

F. Sato

Keyword(s):

Functional Significance ◽

Time Course ◽

Sweat Rate ◽

Camp Level ◽

Sweat Glands ◽

Camp Accumulation ◽

Eccrine Glands ◽

Sweat Secretion ◽

Eccrine Sweat Glands ◽

Eccrine Sweat

Although vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP)-immunoreactive nerves have been identified around the eccrine sweat glands, their functional significance is unknown. We found that VIP evokes eccrine sweat secretion in isolated monkey palm eccrine sweat glands in vitro as profusely as does isoproterenol (Iso), however, at concentrations two orders of magnitude lower than that of Iso. Like Iso sweating, the VIP sweating was relatively insensitive to removal of Ca2+ from the medium. The time course of adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) accumulation in the secretory coil paralleled that of sweat secretion. However, unlike Iso stimulations, both VIP-induced cAMP level and VIP sweat rate markedly declined with time. The attenuation of VIP sweat rate was reversed by forskolin and by theophylline, suggesting that the attenuation is caused partially by desensitization of the receptor-cyclase complex and/or by cAMP breakdown by phosphodiesterase. Forskolin stimulated the VIP-induced cAMP level more than can be expected from a simple additive effect. The sudorific effects of a submaximal concentration of VIP (6 X 10(-9) M) and that of methacholine (MCh) (10(-8) M) were only additive. The VIP-induced cAMP level was markedly augmented by MCh and further enhanced by Iso with or without theophylline. Thus the most salient biochemical consequence of the VIP-ergic component of sweat gland innervation is to induce synergistic amplification of tissue cAMP accumulation. The functional significance of synergistically accumulated cAMP in physiological eccrine sweating remains to be studied.

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Freeze-Fracture Examination of Tight Junctions of Human Eccrine Sweat Glands

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s1431927600002786 ◽

1980 ◽

Vol 38 ◽

pp. 634-635

Author(s):

J. V. Briggman ◽

J. Bigelow ◽

H. Bank ◽

S. S. Spicer

Keyword(s):

Cystic Fibrosis ◽

Freeze Fracture ◽

Sweat Glands ◽

Hypertonic Solution ◽

Dark Cells ◽

Clear Cells ◽

Junctional Complexes ◽

Secretory Coil ◽

Eccrine Sweat Glands ◽

Eccrine Sweat

The prevalence of strands shown by freeze-fracture in the zonula occludens of junctional complexes is thought to correspond closely with the transepi-thelial electrical resistance and with the tightness of the junction and its obstruction to paracellular flow.1 The complexity of the network of junc¬tional complex strands does not appear invariably related to the degree of tightness of the junction, however, as rabbit ileal junctions have a complex network of strands and are permeable to lanthanum. In human eccrine sweat glands the extent of paracellular relative to transcellular flow remains unknown, both for secretion of the isotonic precursor fluid by the coil and for resorption of a hypertonic solution by the duct. The studies reported here undertook, therefore, to determine with the freeze-fracture technique the complexity of the network of ridges in the junctional complexes between cells in the secretory coil and the sweat ducts. Glands from a patient with cystic fibrosis were also examined because an alteration in junctional strands could underlie the decreased Na+ resorption by sweat ducts in this disease. Freeze-fracture replicas were prepared by standard procedures on isolated coil and duct segments of human sweat glands. Junctional complexes between clear cells, between dark cells and between clear and dark cells on the main lumen, and between clear cells on intercellular canaliculi of the coil con¬tained abundant anastomosing closely spaced strands averaging 6.4 + 0.7 (mean + SE) and 9.0 +0.5 (Fig. 1) per complex, respectively. Thus, the junctions in the intercellular canaliculi of the coil appeared comparable in complexity to those of tight epithlia. Occasional junctions exhibited, in addition, 2 to 5 widely spaced anastomosing strands in a very close network basal to the compact network. The fewer junctional complexes observed thus far between the superficial duct cells consisted on the average of 6 strands arranged in a close network and 1 to 4 underlying strands that lay widely separated from one another (Fig. 2). The duct epitelium would, thus, be judged slightly more "leaky" than the coil. Infrequent junctional complexes observed to date in the secretory coil segment of a cystic fibrosis specimen disclosed rela¬tively few closely crowded strands.

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