Acetylcholine-induced activation of the eccrine sweat glands in a case of hypohidrotic congenital ectodermal...

In a male patient suffering from congenital ectodermal dysplasia with sweating only on the plantar and palmar surface, we found that the anhidrotic eccrine sweat glands became able to produce sweat after repeated local application of acetylcholine. We ultrastructurally examined the sweat glands in skin biopsies before and after acetylcholine treatment. The secretory portion of the sweat glands of the right plantar region was characterized by well-developed basal infoldings and intercellular interdigitations, and also by dilated intercellular spaces and canaliculi. In the flexor region of the right brachium (anhidrotic area), the secretory portion showed hypoplastic features, especially denoted by the presence of few locally distributed basal infoldings and intercellular canaliculi. The secretory cells seemed to be hypofunctional with the nuclei containing much heterochromatin. After treatment, in the flexor region of the left brachium and the right infraclavicular region, where sweating was induced, the secretory portion appeared to be considerably activated, though hypoplastic structures were unchanged: the secretory cell nuclei contained dispersed chromatin, the Golgi apparatus in the dark cells was well developed, and both in the clear cells and the myoepithelial cells micropinocytotic vesicle-like structures increased in number. In ductular cells, mitochondria also increased in number.