2. Academic Validation
  3. Gap junction-mediated contraction of myoepithelial cells induces the peristaltic transport of sweat in human eccrine glands

Gap junction-mediated contraction of myoepithelial cells induces the peristaltic transport of sweat in human eccrine glands

  • Commun Biol. 2023 Nov 18;6(1):1175. doi: 10.1038/s42003-023-05557-9.
Kie Nakashima 1,  Hiroko Kato 1,  Ryuichiro Kurata 1,  Luo Qianwen 1,  Tomohisa Hayakawa 1,  Fumihiro Okada 2,  Fumitaka Fujita 3 4,  Yukinobu Nakagawa 5,  Atsushi Tanemura 5,  Hiroyuki Murota 6,  Ichiro Katayama 7,  Kiyotoshi Sekiguchi 8
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Laboratory of Advanced Cosmetic Science, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.
  • 2 Fundamental Research Institute, Mandom Corporation, Osaka, Japan.
  • 3 Laboratory of Advanced Cosmetic Science, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan. [email protected].
  • 4 Fundamental Research Institute, Mandom Corporation, Osaka, Japan. [email protected].
  • 5 Department of Dermatology, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.
  • 6 Department of Dermatology, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan.
  • 7 Department of Dermatology, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka City University, Osaka, Japan.
  • 8 Division of Matrixome Research and Application, Institute for Protein Research, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan. [email protected].
PMID: 37980435 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-05557-9
Abstract

Eccrine sweat glands play an essential role in regulating body temperature. Sweat is produced in the coiled secretory portion of the gland, which is surrounded by obliquely aligned myoepithelial cells; the sweat is then peristaltically transported to the skin surface. Myoepithelial cells are contractile and have been implicated in sweat transport, but how myoepithelial cells contract and transport sweat remains unexplored. Here, we perform ex vivo live imaging of an isolated human eccrine gland and demonstrate that cholinergic stimulation induces dynamic contractile motion of the coiled secretory duct that is driven by gap junction-mediated contraction of myoepithelial cells. The contraction of the secretory duct occurs segmentally, and it is most prominent in the region surrounded by nerve fibers, followed by distension-contraction sequences of the excretory duct. Overall, our ex vivo live imaging approach provides evidence of the contractile function of myoepithelial cells in peristaltic sweat secretion from human eccrine glands.

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