A morphometric analysis of the changes with age in the skin surface wax and the sebaceous gland area of Merino sheep.
Skin samples were collected from the midside of Merino ewes at 6 weeks, one year, and 3 years of age. The thickness of the surface wax and the number and area of sebaceous glands per unit length of skin were measured with an image analyser. Three-year-old sheep had a significantly (P less than .05) thicker skin surface wax layer, (14.45 mu +/- 1.45), than they did as lambs, (7.85 mu +/- 0.88). Both the number (2.91 +/- 0.15 per mm) and area (24.27 mu2/mu +/- 1.54) of sebaceous glands per unit length of skin of 3-year-old sheep were significantly less than in lambs, which measured 4.10 +/- 0.15 per mm and 39.30 +/- 4.14 mu2/mu respectively and one-year-old sheep, which measured 3.99 +/- 0.21 per mm and 35.43 mu2/mu +/- 3.65 respectively.
D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D012627:Sebaceous Glands / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D012756:Sheep / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D012867:Skin / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D014885:Waxes
D014885:Waxes