page_title: Sweat gland
section_title: Structure
hierarchical_section_title: Sweat gland / Structure
caption_attribution_description: Body of a sudoriferous-gland cut in various deirections. a. Longitudinal section of the proximal part of the coiled tube. b. Transverse section of the same. c. Longitudinal section of the distal part of the coiled tube. d. Transverse section of the same. (Klein and Noble Smith.)
context_page_description: Sweat glands, also known as sudoriferous or sudoriparous glands, from Latin sudor, meaning '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. There are two main types of sweat glands that differ in their structure, function, secretory product, mechanism of excretion, anatomic distribution, and distribution across species:
  Eccrine sweat glands are distributed almost all over the human body, in varying densities, with the highest density in palms and soles, then on the head, but much less on the trunk and the extremities. Its water-based secretion represents a primary form of cooling in humans.
  Apocrine sweat glands are mostly limited to the axillae and perianal area in humans. They are not significant for cooling in humans, but are the sole effective sweat glands in hoofed animals, such as the camels, donkeys, horses, and cattle.
  Ceruminous glands, mammary glands, and ciliary glands in the eyelids are modified apocrine sweat glands.
context_section_description: Generally, sweat glands consist of a secretory unit consisting of a base rolled into a glomerulum, and a duct that carries the sweat away. The secretory coil or base, is set deep in the lower dermis and hypodermis, and the entire gland is surrounded by adipose tissue.  In both sweat gland types, the secretory coils are surrounded by contractile myoepithelial cells that function to facilitate excretion of secretory product.  The secretory activities of the gland cells and the contractions of myoepithelial cells are controlled by both the autonomic nervous system and by the circulating hormones. The distal or apical part of the duct that opens to the skin's surface is known as the acrosyringium.
  Each sweat gland receives several nerve fibers that branch out into bands of one or more axons and encircle the individual tubules of the secretory coil. Capillaries are also interwoven among sweat tubules.
caption: Body of a sweat gland cut in various directions
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