Abstract

A comparative study was conducted on the skin samples from different breeds of dogs, focusing on epidermal, dermal and total skin thickness, hair distribution pattern, subcutaneous fat and sebaceous as well as sweat gland characteristics. Notable variations were observed among breeds.  Skin was thickest in Doberman Pinscher and thinnest in Beagle.  The Labrador Retriever showed the highest epidermal contribution to total skin thickness (7.06%). Dachshund and Beagle exhibited the thickest (85.07±5.97 µm) and thinnest (29.30±2.98 µm) epidermis. Significant positive correlation was noticed between total skin thickness and dermal thickness. A significant negative correlation was observed between epidermal thickness and both dermal and total skin thickness. Hair distribution was compound in pattern in all breeds but varied in number and size across breeds. The primary hair and many secondary hairs emerged through a single opening. Among the eight breeds under study, maximum diameter for hair was noticed in Doberman Pinscher and minimum in the German Spitz.  Maximum number of sweat glands was observed in the Dachshund and minimum in the Pug. The sweat glands in the ventral abdominal region in all breeds were of apocrine type. Simple branched alveolar type holocrine sebaceous glands associated with the hair follicles were present in dermis in all the breeds. These findings highlight breed-specific histological differences in canine skin that may influence their physiological and dermatological traits.

Keywords : Histomorphology of skin, epidermis, dermis, hair, dog breeds