Final answer:
Diaphoresis involves secretions from sweat glands that help cool the body, particularly during an increase in temperature or physical activity, aiding in thermoregulation by evaporating and removing heat from the skin.
Step-by-step explanation:
Diaphoresis refers to secretions from sweat glands that help to cool the body. Sweat glands, also known as sudoriferous glands, are exocrine glands that produce a salty fluid known as sweat or perspiration. This fluid is secreted into ducts by sweat glands located in the dermis layer of the skin. The process of sweating helps to excrete wastes from the body and plays a critical role in thermoregulation, by cooling the body when it becomes warm.
There are two types of sweat glands: eccrine and apocrine. The eccrine glands are particularly abundant on the palms of the hands, soles of the feet, and forehead. These glands secrete a hypotonic solution mostly composed of water, with some salts, antibodies, metabolic wastes, and dermicidin—an antimicrobial peptide.
Sweat is released onto the skin surface through pores via a process called exocytosis. When the sweat evaporates from the skin, it takes body heat with it, effectively cooling the body.