Physiological polymorphisms on sebaceous gland activity in human

2005 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 16370105
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: 生理人類学
• Research Institution: Wakayama University
• Principal Investigator: IMAMURA Ritsuko Wakayama University, Faculty of Education, Associate Professor, 教育学部, 助教授 (00176504)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): YANO Suguru Wakayama University, Faculty of Education, Professor, 教育学部, 教授 (20200553) ; WATANUKI Shigeki Kyushu University, Graduate School of Design, Professor, 大学院・芸術工学院, 教授 (00158677)
• Project Period (FY): 2004 – 2005
• Keywords: Sebaceous gland activity / Underwear / Triglyceride / Wax ester

Research Abstract

Twenty-eight male volunteers aged 18-23 years old were divided into 3 groups at random. The first group (C) consisted of 9 persons wore full body cotton underwear every night for 4 weeks in autumn, the second group (P) consisited of 9 persons wore similar polyester underwear for an identical period, and the third group (AC) consisted of 10 persons wore a cotton (60%), polyester (20%) and biscose (20%) blended underwear. The hygroscopicity of these 3 underwear is 7.75, 0.63, and 6.46%, respectively. We collected sebum from their back skin once in the morning every week by a cup method using organic solvents. The chromatograms were developed and then charred, and the lipid classed were quantified by densitometry (Shimazu, CS-9300PS). The amounts of squalene (SQ), wax ester (WE), and triglycerides (TG) were calculated from the ratio of the peak area. The rate of concentrations of WE and TG increased gradually in cotton underwear to 162% and 132%, respectively until the 3rd week of the experiment, while those for polyester underwear increased once until the second week, but later they decreased to 78% and 80%, respectively, at the end of the experiment which was less than in cotton underwear. The result of the blended underwear (AC) was obtained between cotton and polyester underwear. There was no tendency in the result of SQ data among the 3 different kinds of materials. As a result, synthetic clothing with hydrophobic properties seems to suppress natural sebaceous gland activity from autumn to winter compared with that with hydrophilic properties. The results also suggest that synthetic clothing may possibly disturb natural physiological variations and the polyester clothes with hydrophobic properties would make the body more stressful, compared with cotton clothes with hydrophobic ones. However, the urine catecolamines showed no such tendency among the underwear materials.