AGE AND SEX DIFFERENCES IN SPONTANEOUS, ADRENERGIC AND CHOLINERGIC HUMAN SWEATING

[摘要] Three-tests for sweating ability on 2 groups of subjects, young and old, subdivided as to sex were conducted spontaneous digital sweating, response of the glands in the forearm to local injections of adrenaline, and response of the glands of the forearm to local injections of mecholyl. Sweating was recorded photographically and measurements of sweat spots were calculated from suitably enlarged photographs. Data were reduced to the area of sweat/sq cm of skin/10 minutes, the number of sweat spots/ sq cm of skin/10 minutes, and the mean sweat output per gland/10 minutes. The results were as follows: Spontaneous digital sweating in the old subjects was markedly decreased, mainly by a reduction in the number of active glands, but also by the output per gland. No sex difference was found in spontaneous sweating in either the old or the young group. The reaction of the glands of the forearm to adrenaline was less in the old subjects, due entirely to a decreased output per gland, and not to a reduction in the number of activated glands. No sex difference was found in the response to this drug. The response of the glands of the forearm to mecholyl was markedly greater in men than in women and the effect of age was different in the 2 sexes. Old men showed a lowered response to mecholyl compared to young men: old women showed no decrease but some increase compared to young women. These differences in response were due entirely to output per gland. Comparison of the mean sweat output per gland in the 3 tests for the 4 groups, (young men, young women, old men, old women) showed that there was a similar basic level of output in response to adrenalin and for spontaneous sweating. This output was increased by mecholyl twofold in old women, fivefold in old men, and elevenfold in young men. The young women showed no difference in their response to mecholyl and adrenalin. The old subjects showed a greater coefficient of variation than did the young group. Counting of sweat spots alone was shown to be an inadequate index of sweating activity in certain types of investigation. The pharmacological results led to the proposition that two separate factors affecting the eccrine glands are involved: a) the intrinsic glandular condition which deteriorates with age, and generally limits the response of the glands to all agents, and b) an extrinsic factor, such as hormonal balance in the blood, which affects the sensitivity of the eccrine glands to cholinergic but not to adrenergic agents.