Male
canidsscent-mark their territories with urine and preputial gland secretions.[1][6] The preputial glands of male musk deer produce strong-smelling
deer musk which is of economic importance, as it is used in
perfumes.[7]
There is debate about whether humans have functional
homologues to preputial glands. Preputial glands were first noted by
Edward Tyson[8] and in 1694, fully described by
William Cowper who named them Tyson's glands after Tyson.[9][10] They are described as modified
sebaceous glands located around the corona and inner surface of the
prepuce of the
human penis. They are believed to be most frequently found in the balanopreputial sulcus.[11] Their secretion may be one of the components of
smegma.
Some, including Satya Parkash,[12] dispute their existence.[13] While humans may not have true anatomical equivalents, the term may sometimes be used for tiny whitish yellow bumps occasionally found on the
corona of the glans penis. The proper name for these structures is
pearly penile papules (or hirsutoid papillomas). According to detractors, they are not glands, but mere thickenings of the skin and are not involved in the formation of smegma.[14][15]
^Clapperton, B. Kay; Fordham, R. A.; Sparksman, R. I. (1987). "Preputial glands of the ferret Mustela furo (Carnivora: Mustelidae)". Journal of Zoology. 212 (2): 356–361.
doi:
10.1111/j.1469-7998.1987.tb05998.x.