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Apocrine gland
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The apocrine gland is a type of sweat gland, and it is found mainly in the armpits, the areolae and the anogenital region. It is exocrine, that is, one of the glands that release their product to the outside through a duct rather than into the blood.
What stands out is how it secretes. The process is called decapitation, and the name describes exactly what happens: the end of the cell, a cap of cytoplasm with its own membrane, pinches off whole and drops into the duct. The cell does not open a door to let something out; it sheds its own tip.
That duct usually opens into the pilosebaceous follicle, which is the hair root with its oil gland. And what comes out is not water alone. It carries organic compounds that make it thicker, and the bacteria living on the skin break them down. That breakdown is where the odor comes from.
That is why underarm odor shows up when it does. Before puberty the apocrine gland simply does not work: at puberty it grows and starts to secrete.
In brief
The apocrine gland is an exocrine gland found mainly in the armpits, areolae and anogenital region.
It secretes by decapitation: the cap of cytoplasm at the apical end pinches off into the lumen of the duct.
The cell does not open a door to secrete: it sheds its own tip.
Its duct usually opens into the pilosebaceous follicle, and its sweat carries organic compounds that bacteria break down, producing the odor.
Before puberty it does not work: at puberty it grows and begins to secrete.
Sources (2)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingHistology, Apocrine Gland, StatPearlsPublished
- OpenStax, Rice UniversityAccessory Structures of the Skin, Anatomy and Physiology 2ePublished
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