Gland axilla, humans

The apocrine glands in the axilla can secrete enormous amounts of steroids such as dihydrotestosterone and pregnenolone (Brooksbank, 1970). Three single steroid compounds have also been tested on T-shirts. Surprisingly, both sexes attributed androstenol to females. Two other synthetic compounds were attributed to one or the other sex, depending on concentration, and one was perceived as very negative. Androstenol and the two synthetic compounds have very low olfactory thresholds for humans. 

These compounds would also be irritating to human skin. In contrast, dermal exposure to zinc oxide did not usually cause skin irritation to humans and animals. However, a few workers who routinely became covered with zinc oxide dust have had pustules on the axilla and inner thighs possibly formed in response to plugging of glands by sweat, bacteria, and zinc oxide dust. 

The point that different human races possess their own characteristic odors is based on the fact that different ethnic groups have apocrine glands of different size. Thus, compared with the Europeans and Negroes, individuals of the Mongolian race possess only weakly developed apocrine and sebaceous glands, mainly in the axilla 117),... 

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