L3.6.1: Cutaneous Glands

• Skin appendages

  • includes
  • Cutaneous glands are all exocrine glands
  • Sebaceous glands
  • Sweat glands
  • Hair
  • Hair follicle
  • Nails
• Cutaneous glands

  • Sebaceous (oil) glands
  • Sweat (sudoriferous) glands
  • Eccrine glands
  • Apocrine glands
• • Located all over the skin except for palms and soles
  • Produce sebum (oil)
  • Makes skin soft and moist
  • Prevents hair from becoming brittle
  • Kills bacteria
  • Ducts usually empty into a hair follicle
  • Some open directly into the skin surface
  • Glands are activated at puberty


  Sebaceous (oil) glands
• • Produce sweat
  • Widely distributed in skin
  • 2 types of sweat glands
  • Eccrine glands
  • Apocrine glands


  Sweat (sudoriferous) glands
• • Stratified cuboidal
  • Open via duct to sweat pores on the skin’s surface
  • Produces acidic sweat
  • Water
  • Salts
  • Vitamin C
  • Traces of metabolic waste
  • Function in body temperature regulation


  Eccrine glands
• • Ducts empty into hair follicles in the armpit and genitals
  • Begin to function at puberty
  • Release sweat that also contains fatty acids and proteins (milky or yellowish color)
  • Plays a minimal role in body temperature regulation


  Apocrine glands