Peroxisomes in the apocrine sweat glands of the human axilla and their putative role in pheromone production.

The products of the human apocrine axillary glands contain volatile steroids which act as pheromones. The steroidal structure of these pheromones implies that the axillary glands should be able to synthesize cholesterol which is the essential precursor of these molecules. Since important steps in cholesterol synthesis are localized within peroxisomes, we investigated the occurrence and the putative role of peroxisomes in the axillary glands at protein and mRNA levels by immunocytochemistry, Western blotting, and RT-PCR. Numerous peroxisomes were localized in the cells of the apocrine glands by immunocytochemistry, and the presence of catalase was confirmed by Western blotting and RT-PCR. Additionally, RT-PCR revealed the presence of mRNAs of two peroxisome-associated enzymes of the cholesterol biosynthetic pathway, mevalonate kinase and farnesyl diphosphate synthase. The results suggest that the peroxisomes in the human apocrine axillary glands may play a pivotal role in the biosynthesis of pheromones.