184 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS DISCUSSION It has long been recognized that axillary odor arises from the interaction of bacteria with apocrine sweat. A class of volatile free steroids has been associated with axillary odor and with a particular bacterial population--the lipophilic diphtheroids. We suspected that the enzymes responsible for this process would be those capable of releasing free volatile steroid from odorless steroid conjugates present in sterile apocrine secretion. We showed that a mixed culture of axillary bacteria produces a beta-glucuronidase capable of cleaving asteroid glucuronide. From our preliminary screening tests, we showed that another class of hydrolytic enzyme, aryl sulfatase, was also present in axil- lary strains. We have shown that a beta-glucuronidase and an aryl sulfatase, both of bacterial origin, will cleave odorless compounds in sterile secretion to produce distinct axillary odor. Thus, hydrolytic enzymes are implicated in the release of odor. We have also shown that a lipophilic diphtheroid secretes both of the enzymes necessary to produce steroid malodor from sterile axillary secretion. We have shown that the generation of odor, from the addition of beta-glucuronidase or aryl sulfatase or lipophilic diphtheroid to apocrine secretion, may be prevented by the inclusion of the enzyme inhibitor Zn + + and somewhat reduced by glucarolactone (which inhibits only the beta-glucuronidase but not aryl sulfatase). This further sub- stantiates the role of these bacterial enzymes in axillary odor. REFERENCES (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) E. Eigen, A new mechanism of axillary malodor [Letter], J. Soc. Cosmet. Chem., 41, 147 (1990). J. S. Strauss and A. M. Kligman, The bacteria responsible for axillary odor. I., J. Invest. Dermatol., 27, 67-71 (1956). N. Shehadeh and A.M. Kligman, The bacteria responsible for axillary odor. II., J. Invest. Dermatol., 41, 3 (1963). J. N. Labows, K. J. McGinley, and A.M. Kligman, Perspectives on axillary odor, J. $oc. Cosmet. Chem., 34, 193-202 (1982). P. J. H. Jackman and W. C. Noble, Normal axillary skin microflora in various populations, Clin. Exp. Dermatol., 8, 259-268 (1983). J. J. Leyden, K. J. McGinley, E. Holzle, J. N. Labows, and A. M. Kligman, The microbiology of the human axilla and its relationship to axillary odor, J. Invest. Dermatol., 77, 413-416 (1981). R. R. Marples and A.M. Kligman, In-vivo methods for appraising anti-bacterial agents, TGA Cosmet. J., 1, 26-33 (1969). B. W. L. Brooksbank, R. Brown, and J.-A. Gustafsson, The detection of 5 alpha-androst-16-en-3 alpha ol in human male axillary sweat, Experientia, 30, 864-865 (1964). A. Nixon, A. I. Mallet, and D. B. Gower, Simultaneous quantification of five odorous steroids (16-androstenes) in the axillary hair of men, J. Steroid Blochem., 29, 505-510 (1988). S. Bird and D. B. Gower, Axillary 5-alpha-androst-16-en-3-one, cholesterol, and squalene in men: Preliminary evidence for 5-alpha-androst-16-en-3-one being a product of bacterial action, J. Steroid Blochem., 17, 517-522 (1982). J. N. Labows, G. Preti, E. Holzle, J. J. Leyden, and A. M. Kligman, Steroid analysis of human apocrine secretion, Steroids, 34, 249-258 (1979). W. C. Noble, Microbiology of Human Skin. (Lloyd-Duke Medical Books, London, 1981) pp. 92-106. A. Nixon, A. I. Mallet, P. J. H. Jackman, and D. B. Gower, Testosterone metabolism by isolated human axillary corynebacterium ssp.: A gas-chromatographic mass-spectrometric study, J. Steroid Blochem., 27, 1-6 (1986).

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