Sweat Glands Help in Healing Wounds in Humans

Sweat Glands present in the deep layer of skin not only control body temperature but seem to play a vital role in health.

Sweat glands are there not just for cooling one down but also have a hand in healing wounds. Researchers from the University of Michigan have discovered that sweat glands play a key role in providing cells for recovering skin wounds such as scrapes, burns and ulcers.

"Skin ulcers including those caused by diabetes or bed sores -- and other non-healing wounds remain a tremendous burden on health services and communities around the world," said lead author Laure Rittie, Ph.D., research assistant professor of dermatology at the University of  Michigan Medical School.

"Treating chronic wounds costs tens of billions of dollars annually in the United States alone, and this price tag just keeps rising. Something isn't working."

This research will be useful for victims of diabetic ulcers and other ailments. Sweat glands may just turn into a powerful source in helping the body wounds heal.

"By identifying a key process of wound closure, we can examine drug therapies with a new target in mind: sweat glands, which are very understudied," Rittie said. "We're hoping this will stimulate research in a promising, new direction."

Previous understanding of wound closure was that new skin cells originate from hair follicles and from intact skin at the edge of the wound.  But according to this study, the cells arise from beneath the wound, indicating human eccrine sweat glands store a pool of adult stem cells that can be used immediately in order to heal wounds.

"It may be surprising that it's taken until now to discover the sweat glands' vital role in wound repair," Rittié says. "But there's a good reason why these specific glands are under-studied. Eccrine sweat glands are unique to humans and absent in the body skin of laboratory animals that are commonly used for wound healing research.

We have discovered that humans heal their skin in a unique way, different from other mammals," Rittie adds. "The regenerative potential of sweat glands has been one of our body's best-kept secrets. Our findings certainly advance our understanding of the normal healing process and will hopefully pave the way for designing better, targeted therapies."