Sweat proteins

The electrophoretic patterns of skin washings from the calf, sheep, goat, pig, horse and man have been compared. It was concluded that protein in these washings was derived mainly from sweat. The amounts of protein lost and the nature of the proteins in the sweat differed markedly between species. The horse had relatively the highest protein loss during active sweating and man the lowest. The potential biological role of these sweat proteins is discussed, including the possibility that they may provide the animal with an outer defence, on the skin surface, against invasion by foreign organisms.