Arianna Mae H.
Gomez ● EPIDERMAL STRATA - layers (from the
BSN 1C
Student Study/reviewer Guide:
Integumentary System
- The integumentary system consists of the
skin and accessory structures such as hair,
glands, and nails.
- Integument means covering.
5.1 Functions of the integumentary System:
1. Protection
- skin provides protection against abrasion
and ultraviolet
- Prevents microorganisms from entering the
body
- Reduces water loss
- Preventing dehydration
2. Sensation
- has sensory receptors that can detect heat,
cold, touch, pressure, and pain.
3. Vitamin D Protection
- An important regulator of calcium
homeostasis
4. Temperature Regulation
- The amount of blood flow beneath the skin’s
surface and the activity of sweat glands in
the skin both help regulate body
temperature.
5. Excretion
- small amounts of waste products are lost
through the skin and in gland secretions.
5.2 SKIN
A. Epidermis (roof)
- most superficial layer of the skin
- Layer of epithelial tissue that rests on the
dermis.
- Provides protection
- Stratified squamous epithelium
- New cells are produced by mitosis.
- Prevent water loss and resist abrasion.
● KERATINIZATION - during the movement
of cells (cells from the inner portion goes to
the surface to replace the dead ones), the
cells change shape and chemical
composition.
- The term reflects the fact that the cells
become filled with the protein keratin, which
makes them more rigid and durable.
- Dead epithelial cells will act as a
permeability barrier.
- Transformation of stratum basale cels into
stratum corneum cells.
deepest to the most superficial)
1. Stratum basale
- consists of cuboidal or columnar cells
undergoing mitotic divisions about every 19
days.
- Intermediate strata- produced from the
change in the cells.
- New cells are produced
2. Stratum spinosum
- take on a flattened appearance and
accumulate lipid-filled vesicles called
lamellar bodies.
3. Stratum granulosum
- flat and diamond shaped accumulate more
keratin
- Release the contents of the lamellar bodies
to the extracellular space.
- Grainy appearance (due to the
degenerations of the cells’ degeneration)
4. Stratum lucidum
- thin, clear zone
- Cells have no nuclei or organelles = cells
stain more lightly.
● Thick skin has all 5 strata and is found in
areas subject to pressure or friction.
● Thin skin lacks the stratum lucidum and
covers the rest of the body.
● Thick and thin only refers to the number of
strata and not to the overall thickness of the
skin.
5. Stratum corneum
- most superficial
- Dead squamous cells filled with keratin
(gives its structural strength).
- Coated and surrounded by lipids(prevents
fluid loss through the skin) released from
the lamellar bodies of the skin cells.
- 25 or more layers of dead squamous cells
joined by desmosomes.
- Desmosomes gets excessive sloughing of
stratum corneum cells= dandruff.
- Callus= increased stratum corneum.
- Stratum corneum can thicken and form
corns.
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B. Dermis (forms most of the house)
- layer of dense collagenous connective
tissue containing fibroblasts, adipocytes,and
macrophages.
- 100-12 times thicker than the epidermis
- Responsible for most of the skin’s structural
strength. Strength that came from the
collagen and elastic fibers.
- Orientation of collagen fibers produces
cleavage lines or tension lines

D. Skin Color
— factors that determine skin color:
1. Pigments in the skin
2. Blood circulating through the skin
3. The thickness of the stratum corneum

- MELANIN, a group of pigments primarily

responsible for skin, eye, hair color.
-protection against ultraviolet light
from the sun.
- produced by melanocytes,
- If the skin is overstretched for some
irregularly shaped cells located
reason, the dermis can be damaged leaving
between the stratum basale and
lines that are visible through the epidermis
stratum spinosum.
which are called stretch marks.
- Dermal Papillae, projections on the upper
part of the dermis that extend toward the
epidermis.
- contains many blood vessels
- can be arranged in parallel, curving
ridges that shape the overlying
epidermis into patterns called friction
ridges(leaves fingerprints and
footprints)

- Types of Injections: Process of Melanin Transfer from melanocytes to

1. Intradermal injection
- delivers substance slowly
- Inserting a small needle at a shallow angle
into the dermis.
- Tuberculin skin test.
2. Subcutaneous injection
- by pinching the skin to form a “tent” and
inserting a short needle into the adipose
tissue of the subcutaneous tissue.
- Insulin injections
3. Intramuscular injection
- Faster than the intradermal and
subcutaneous
- By inserting a long needle at a 90 degree
angle to the. Skin into a muscle deep.
- Vaccines and certain antibiotics.
C. SUBCUTANEOUS (under the skin)
(foundation on which a house rest)
- Tissue which is also a layer of connective
tissue.
epithelial cells:
1. Within melanocytes, the Golgi Apparatuses
package melanin into vesicles called
melanosomes.
2. Melanosomes move into the cell processes
of te melanocytes.
3. Epithelial cells phagocytize the tips of the
melanocyte cell processes, thereby
acquiring melanosomes. Although all the
epithelial cells of the epidermis can contain
melanin, only the melanocytes produce it.
- melanin production is determined by
genetic factors, exposure to sunlight,
and hormones.
- Sunlight stimulates melanocytes to increase
melanin production=sun tan, to reduce DNA
damage in the cell.
- Carotene, a plant pigment ingested as a
source of vitamin A, can cause the skin
to appear yellowish.
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 - Increased blood flow produces a red
skin color, whereas decreased blood
flow causes a pale skin color. Decreased
blood O2 results in the blue skin color of
cyanosis.
- Scattering of light by collagen produces
a bluish color.
5.3 SUBCUTANEOUS TISSUE.
- where skin rsets.
- Hypodermis (under the skin)
- Can be used to estimate total body fat
- Fat for women= 21% - 30%
- Fat for men= 13% - 25%
A. The subcutaneous tissue, which is not part
of the skin, is loose connective tissue that
attaches the skin to underlying tissues.
B. About half of the body’s lipids are stored
in subcutaneous tissue.
5.4 ACCESSORY SKIN STRUCTURE
- Attached to or embedded into the skin.
1. Hair
- columns of dead, keratinized epithelial cells.
Each hair consists of a shaft(above the
skin), a root (below the skin), and a hair
bulb (site of hair cell formation/base of
the hair root.)
There are two kinds of Sweat Glands:
- Have a growth pace and a resting phase.
- Growth phase: hair is formed by the
epithelial cells within the hair bulb. -
- Resting stage: growth stops and
the hair is held in the hair follicle.
- With age, the amount of melanin in hair
can decrease, causing the hair color to
become faded, or the hair can contain no
melanin and be white.
- Hair follicle, an invagination of the
epidermis that extends deep into the
dermis.
- Medulla covered by the cortex, and the
cortex is covered by the cuticle.
- Contraction of the arrector pili, which are
smooth muscles, causes hair to become
more perpendicular to the skin's surface,
or to ”stand on end” and produces a
raised area of skin called a “goose
bump”
2. Glands
- The major glands of the skin are the
sebaceous glands and the sweat glands.
- Sebaceous glands
- Simple, branched acinar glands
- produce sebum ( an oily, white
substance rich in lipids), which oils
the hair and the surface of the skin
which prevents drying and protects
against some bacteria.
- Eccrine sweat glands
- Simple, coiled, tubular glands and
release sweat by merocrine
secretion.
- Most are in the palms and soles.
- Produce a secretion that is mostly
water with a few salts.
- produce sweat, which cools the
body.
-
- Apocrine sweat glands
- Simple, coiled, tubular glands that
produce a thick secretion rich in
organic substances.
- They open into hair follicles, but only
in the armpits and genitals.
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 - Become active at puberty because
of the influence of reproductive
hormones.
- produce organic secretions that
cause body odor when broken
down by bacteria.
3. Nails
- consists of the nail body(the visible part)
and the nail root (nail covered by the skin)
- Cuticle, a stratum corneum that extends
onto the nail body.
- Nail matrix is thicker than the nail bed
- Grows continuously. No resting phase.
- The nail matrix produces the nail, which is
composed of stratum corneum cells
containing hard keratin.
modified by the liver and kidneys into
vitamin D.
- The precursor is carried by the blood
to the liver, where it is modified, and
then to the kidneys, where the
precursor is modified further to form
active vitamin D.
- Vitamin D increases calcium and
phosphate (the substance necessary for
normal bone growth and normal muscle
function) uptake in the small intestine
Temperature Regulation
- Through dilation and constriction of blood
vessels, the skin controls the heat loss from
the body.
- Evaporation of sweat cools the body.
- To maintain homeostasis.

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5.5 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE INTEGUMENTARY
SYSTEM

Protection
- The skin (its lipids act as a barrier to the
diffusion of water from the deeper tissues of
the body to the surface of the epidermis)
reduces water loss.
- Prevents the entry of microorganisms
- Provides protection against abrasion and
ultraviolet light.
Excretion
- Hair on the head acts as an insulator, in
- Skin glands remove small amounts of waste
eyebrows: keep sweat out of the eyes,
products but are not important in excretion.
eyelashes: protect the eyes from foreign
objects, and in nose and ear: prevents the
5.6 Integumentary System as a Diagnostic Aid
entry of dust and other materials.
- The integumentary system is easily
- and nails protect fingers and toes.
observed and often reflects events
occurring in other parts of the body. E.g.,
Sensation
cyanosis, jaundice, rashes)
- The skin contains sensory sensory
receptors for pain, heat, cold, and
5.7 Burns
pressure.
- injury to a tissue caused by heat, cold,
friction, chemicals, electricity, or radiation.
Vitamin D Production
- Classified according to their depth.
- Ultraviolet stimulates the production of
precursor molecules in the skin that are

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A. Partial-thickness burns damage only the
epidermis (first-degree burn/ edema) or the
epidermis and the dermis (second-degree
burn/ redness, pain, edema, and blisters)

B. Full-thickness burns (third-degree burns)

destroy the epidermis, the dermis, and
usually underlying tissues.
C. Fourth-degree burns damage tissue
deeper than the subcutaneous tissue,
including muscle and bone.