title: A morphometric analysis of the changes with age in the skin surface wax and the sebaceous gland area of Merino sheep.
abstract: 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.
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D012627:Sebaceous Glands / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D012756:Sheep / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D012867:Skin / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D014885:Waxes
chemical_list: D014885:Waxes