Histology of the Suprapubic and Anogenital Cutaneous Glands in Male Cotton Top Tamarins (Saguinus oedipus)

Abstract

In cotton top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus), scent glands have been mostly studied in females from museum collections. This work aims to extend the investigation to male specimens, introducing a novel source of skin samples. Two adult males from zoo populations, one intact and one castrated, were immediately frozen after natural death. Skin samples were later collected at the thawing onset, soaked with cold fixative and processed for light microscopy. Sebaceous units of scent glands showed phasic secretory activity in the intact male and marked fibrosis in the castrated male. It appears, therefore, that light microscopy samples from frozen tissues provide detailed features that can disclose distinctive traits in specimens characterized by different hormonal balances.

On the trail of primate scent signals: A field analysis of callitrichid scent‐gland secretions by portable gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry

“…Our study groups varied in composition of their scent-gland (Fontani et al, 2014) and the suprapubic and sternal scent-gland skin of lion tamarins, Leonthopithecus sp. (Moraes et al, 2006), showed no difference between the tissues of these different glands.…”