Sebum production

Abstract

Sebum is produced exclusively by the sebaceous glands. It serves as a vehicle for odors involved in sexual and social attraction. By a similar mechanism, the newborn child commonly recognizes his/her mother's body odor. The reciprocal recognition is likely during the first weeks of life when the sebaceous glands are active in the newborn. It is noteworthy that the individual sebum-driven scents of each human being are commonly detected by dogs on skin and clothes. Other volatile compounds corresponding to pheromones are produced by mammalian skin in a mixture of apocrine sweat and sebum. In addition, sebum brings vitamin E, the melanocyte-stimulating hormone isotype α (α-MSH), and other various compounds to the stratum corneum (SC). © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010.