SKIN

Integumentary system (skin)

 Integumentary system (skin +
membranes)

Skin (integument) is the largest organ of

the body
Recall: organ = 2+ tissues that perform a
particular function
 Integumentary system (skin)
2 layers:
- Epidermis: the outer/superficial
protective layer

- Dermis: Deepest and thickest

layer of the integumentary system,
comprising 2 layers, the papillary
and reticular layers

The hypodermis or subcutaneous

tissue layer binds the dermis of the
skin to the underlying muscle
Integumentary system: Roles
Physical protection:
Barrier against bacteria, UV, chemicals, friction

Hydroregulation:
Prevents water loss (due to keratin and sebum)

Thermoregulation:
Helps regulate body temperature through radiation, evaporation, skin capillaries
dilation/constriction
Cutaneous absorption:
Only lipid based chemicals penetrate (significantly) the skin

Synthesis:
Skin synthesizes melanin (color), ketanin (toughness) and Vitamin D (Calcium
metabolism)
Sensory reception
Senses touch, pressure, heat, cold and tissue damage (pain)
Communication:
Reflects emotions through facial expressions, gland secretions
 Epidermis
Derived from the ectoderm (outside skin) in embryonic development.
In 5 distinct cell layers:
Basal layer (stratum basale)
The single cell layer that is in contact with the dermis (the deepest layer of the epidermis).
Stratum spinosum
Several cell layers thick, often grouped with stratum basale as the stratum germinativum
Stratum granulosum
3-4 flattened cell layers
Cells contain the chemical precursor to keratin (keratohylin)
 Epidermis
In 5 distinct cell layers:
- Basal layer (stratum basale)
- Stratum spinosum
- Stratum granulosum
-Stratum lucidum
- Present in thick skin (sole of
feet, translucent)
- Stratum corneum
-The actual protective layer
Keratinized or
cornified
Callus = thickened
portion of the stratum
corneum from friction
Stratum corneum has a number of roles:
Friction stimulates Keratin helps provide water repellency (water proofs
increased mitosis your skin)
in the stratum Also prevents water absorption when you immerse your
germinativum skin (swimming, washing your hands etc.)

25-30 layers of flat,

scale-like cells
Integumentary system (skin)
 Integumentary system (skin)
Epidermis & fingerprints/toeprints
Fingerprint = friction ridge
Like a geckos fingers, just not as deep.
Helps you hold on to things
If your fingers were slick, youd have a hard time holding
on to your pen.
From pull of the elastic fibers in the dermis.
Hence, dermis patterns your epidermis friction ridges.
Friction ridges are patterned prenatally and are unique to
each person.
Deep flexion creases (lines in your palm) & shallow
flexion creases (on your knuckles) are acquired.
Not prenatally determined.
Integumentary system (skin)
 Integumentary system (skin)
Skin color
Derived from 3 skin pigments:
Melanin (brown/black)
From melanocytes in the stratum basale
Gradual exposure to UV light will increase the amount of
melanin these melanocytes produce
Everyone has roughly the same number of
melanocytes per square inch of skindarker colors =
more melanin productioneven someone with
albinism.
Melanin also helps to absorb & disperse the UV
energy that enters the dermis
Integumentary system (skin)
 Integumentary system (skin)
Skin color
Derived from 3 skin pigments:
Melanin (brown/black)
Freckles = patches of dense melanin
liver spots = sun spots or age spots excess melanocyte
activity
seborrheic hyperkeratosis excess growth of
keratinocytes wart-like structures stuck on the skin
Tanning salons use UVA energythis isnt really safe:
UVA inhibits DNA repair that follows UVB exposureyou
fake-bake, then walk outside and expose yourself to UVB in
sunlightyouve inhibited your skins ability to repair itself.
 Integumentary system (skin)
Skin color
Derived from 3 skin pigments:
Melanin
Carotene: yellow/orange
Usual dietary source = vegetables like carrots
Accumulates in the stratum corneum & fat of the dermis layer
NOT why asians are yellowyellow is the result of
variations in melanin production.
Hemoglobin: red
Gives pink tone in skin (blushing = increased blood flow into
the dermis)
Cyanosis bluish color of the skin due to lack of oxygen
on hemoglobin
 Integumentary system (skin)

Note: difference between the melanized cells of the stratum

basale between the two skin tones. Also recall how the
stratum corneum is transparent.
Tatoos
 Integumentary system (skin)
Below the epidermis = Dermis
Where the lines of tension exist
Elastic and collagen fibers arrayed in a particular
manner to derive these lines of tension
Surgeons attempt to incise along these lines of
tension in order to improve the subsequent scar
(smaller scar, faster healing).
 Integumentary system (skin)
Below the epidermis = Dermis
2 layers
Stratum papillarosum: in contact with the epidermis
Papillae are actualy projections of the dermis into the
epidermisthe framework for fingerprints (friction
ridges).

Stratum reticulosum: reticular layer (mesh-like)

Stretches well, but can be overstretched
Post-partum stretch marks
Integumentary system (skin)
Integumentary system (skin)
 Integumentary system (skin)
Below the epidermis = Dermis
Contains blood vessels & nerve fibers
Nerve inputs and outputs
Motor input from the central nervous system (autonomic
branch) to the muscle cells that line the hair follicle
Goosebumps or raised hair when youre cold.
Touch, pressure, temperature sensors are located in
the dermis.
Vasculature that feeds the stratum germinativum
(epidermal layer) is all located here.
Nutrients & oxygen must diffuse through the layers of the
dermis to reach the epidermis.
 Hypodermis
Below the dermis
Subcutaneous tissue (not actually part
of the skin).
In areas like the palm & sole, this area
is quite thin, and contains large
amounts of collagen & elastin fibers
between the cells.
Tighter grip on the underlying muscle
layer.
Females generally have thicker layer
of hypodermis
More body fat
Hypodermic needle = needle long
enough to penetrate into the
hypodermis
If you inject fluid into the dermis or
epidermis, it will likely come back
out when you withdraw the needle.
 Epidermal derivatives:

Hair
Nail
Glands
- sebaceous glands
- sweat glands
Epidermal derivatives: Hair
Each hair made of a shaft, root and bulb
Shaft is what you see (dead cells)
Root is below the skin
Bulb located at the base of the root within the
follicle
Follicle is the sheath of epidermal cells around
the root
Cells divide in the bulb, push their way up
This is how hair grows in lengthcells
growing
Roughly 1mm every 3 days
Speed of growth varies with individual
and hair location
 Hair

Note how the

stratum
basale of the
epidermis
lines the hair
follicle.
 Hair
Defined lifespan: 3-4 months for eyelash, 3-4 years
for scalp
Each hair is replaced by a new hair that pushes the old
hair shaft out from the follicle
You have the same number of folliclesnew hair just
reboots the hair bulb to form a new unit.
In-grown hair often results when the new hair shaft cannot
leave the follicle (due to restriction/constriction of the
root).

Hirsutism: excessive body hair

Hypertrichosis
 Integumentary system (skin)
Epidermal derivatives:
Hair
Hair color is define by the type and amount of
pigment made in the stratum basale
Melanin (more = dark)
Red hair = presence of iron (trichosiderin)
Grey-white hair = lack of pigment due to dying
melanocytes (and presence of air bubbles in the shaft)
Hair shape
- round straight hair, oval curly hair

Hair thickness
- Depends on the size of the follicle and root
 Integumentary system (skin)

The sebaceous
gland open in the
shaft.
 Special types of hairs
Lanugo
- fine, silky fetal hair, appearing during third
trimester of development

Vellus
Fine, short hair replacing lanugo, present
especially in children and women

Terminal hair
- Coarse and pigmented (scalp, axillary, pubic
hairs..)

Additional definitions
- Angora hair: terminal hair that continues to grow
- Definitive hair: terminal hair that grow to a certain
length (most hairs)
 Nails
Composed of a compressed layer of
stratum corneum cells

Hardness derived from dense keratin

deposits.

Key parts:
Body (what usually gets painted),
Free border (tip of the nail),
Nail bed (what the nail rests on
(stratus spinosum of the dermis)
Hyponychium = quick (stratum
corneum of the nail)
Eponychium = cuticle (covers the
hidden borderthe hangnail area)
 Integumentary system (skin)
Epidermal derivatives:
Nails
Growth from the nail
matrix
Below the hidden
border
Lunula (semi-circle at
the base of the nail) is
all that you can see of
the nail matrix
Nails
Glands: sebaceous and sudoriferous
Sebaceous glands: oil glands
Associated with hair follicle
Sebaceous = secrete sebum
Sebum = lipid-rich secretion that lubricates & waterproofs the hair shaft

Acne = blocked sebaceous gland

Why do teenagers break out?
Sex hormones regulate the amount of sebum secreted.
 Sudoriferous glands: sweat glands
Eccrine sudoriferous gland
Distributed all over the body (sweaty palms, back, chest etc.)
Non-smelly
Apocrine sudoriferous gland
Armpits (axillary) and pubic regions open into a hair shaft
Smelly sweat
Mammary glands are specialized sudoriferous glands that have
developed to secrete colostrum and milk.

Also note how apocrine

sweat glands duct into
the hair follicle, whereas
the eccrine sweat glands
duct directly to the
surface
 Integumentary system (skin)
Epidermal derivatives:
Glands
Ceruminous glands: ear wax
Only located in the outer auditory canal
Cerumen = ear wax
For protection of the auditory canal from pathogenic
invasion,
Also to lubricate the tympanic membrane.
 Dermal structures
Arrector pili:
small muscle attached to hair root and
base of epidermis
When pulled hair shaft stands up
goose bumps
Vestigial structure

Vascular supply
nourish epidermis, hair root and dermis
itself
 Dermal structures: Sensory endings
Touch, pressure
- Meissners corpuscles: light touch
- Pacinian corpuscles: pressure
- Free nerve endings: light touch,
temperature, pain
- Organs of Ruffini: pressure
- Bulbs of Krause: light touch

Pain receptors
- sense tissue damages
Temperature receptors
sense heat and cold
 Skin Sensory receptors

Another view:
 Clinical considerations
Wounds

Burns

Skin cancer

Aging
 Wounds
Open skin is an entry door for
bacteria risk of infection.
Gravity depends on depth and area
involved.
Phases of healing:
Clot formation scab
Inflammatory response
Fibroblasts multiply granulations
Macrophages phagocytize debris
When dermis has filled up, epidermis
can grow to cover the area
If severe wound: scar tissue
Wound examples
 Inflammation
4 cardinal symptoms
Bacteria in the wound
make contact with defense
cells such as mast cells
mast cells release histamine
Histamine promotes
increased permeability of
blood vessels tissue
swelling
Tissue swelling Pain
IInflammation
Symptoms of inflammation:
Bacteria also attrack - Redness
- heat
macrophages which - Swelling
-- pain
release chemical
promoting dilation of the
capillaries
(=vasodilation) more
blood skin area
becomes red (redness)
and hot (heat)
 Burns
Gravity of burns is
determined by surface,
depth and location
Surface: law of 9
 Burns
Gravity of burns is
determined by surface,
depth and location
Depth:
First degree burn:
involves epidermis only
redness (erythema)
sun burn - painful
- Skin heals and peals within
10 days no scarring
 Burns
Gravity of burns is
determined by surface,
depth and location
Depth:
Second degree burn: upper
dermis involved blister -
painful
Epidermis heals within few
days little/no scarring
 Burns
Gravity of burns is
determined by surface,
depth and location
Depth:
Third degree burn:
involves epidermis and
entire dermis (and
sometimes more)
Not painful! Why?
 Skin tumors (benign and not)
Warts: due to a virus., treated
by cryosurgery
Skin cancers
Basal cell carcinoma:
most common, due to UV
exposure, arises from basal
cell,easily treated
Squamous cell
carcinoma: from cells
above basal cells, more
invasive
Malignant melanoma:
Due to melanocytes changing
moles very invasive
 Skin tumors (benign and not)
Skin cancers
Basal cell carcinoma: most
common, due to UV exposure, arises
from basal cell,,easily treated
Squamous cell carcinoma:
from cells above basal cells, more
invasive
Malignant melanoma:
Due to melanocytes changing moles
very invasive
 Melanomas
Usually, starts from a
mole

Watch for changes in

shape, height or color of
the mole

Melanomas are one of the

deadliest cancers
 Aging
Decrease in sebum
secretion dry skin
Decrease in sweat
gland secretion
difficulties to cope with
heat
Decrease in elastin
fibers wrinkles
Decrease in adipose
tissue in the dermis
difficulties to cope with
cold