SKIN BASICS:

BIOLOGY AND
PHYSIOLOGY
BY
PRECIOUS U. IMAM, RN, MD
 WHAT DOES THE SKIN
DO?
 PROTECTION OF HOST FROM ENVIRONMENT
AND ALLOW INTERACTION

PERMEABILITY BARRIER
PROTECT FROM INFECTIOUS MICROBES
THERMOREGULATION
SENSATION
UV PROTECTION
WOUND REPAIR AND REGENERATION
 OUTWARD PHYSICAL APPEARANCE
 SENSATION
 PARTS OF THE SKIN:
Epidermis
 MOST FUNDAMENTAL AND VISIBLE
 CONTINUALLY RENEWING TO PROVIDE SKIN
APPENDAGES
 THICKNESS: 0.4 – 1.5 MM
 MAJOR CELL TYPE: KERATINOCYTE
 OTHER CELL TYPES: Melanocyte, Langerhans
Cells, Merkel Cells
FOUR LAYERS OF THE
EPIDERMIS
 BASAL LAYER
(Stratum
Germinativum)
 HOLDS KERATINOCYTES (80% OF THE CELLS OF
THE EPIDERMIS)
 ULTIMATE FATE: KERATINIZATION (Cornification)
OF KERATINOCYTES
 KERATINS – Family of intermediate filaments and
hallmark of epithelial cells (K5/K14 keratins)
 Total of 54 different keratin genes (34 in skin, 17
in hair)
 Keratinocytes – mitotically active, columnar-
shaped

 Three cell types in basal layer:

 Basal layer cells
 Transit amplifying cells
 Post-mitotic cells
 SPINOUS LAYER
 Spine-like appearance of margins
 Spinous cells are polyhedral with rounded
nucleus
 Move upward as they differentiate becoming
FLATTER
 Lamellar granules – organelles
 Surrounded by large bundles of keratin inserted
into desmosomes
 “Spines” of spinous cells – abundant
desomosomes which gives resitance to
mechanical stress and adherence of
epidermal cells
 Calcium – mediator of adherence
 14 days to reach stratum corneum
 Additional 14 days to desquamate
 GRANULAR LAYER
 Basophilic keratohyalin granules
 Site of generation for epidermal barrier
components and proteins
 Keratohyalin granules
 Profilaggrin
 Keratin filaments
 Loricin
 Apoptosis of cells (final stage)
 Loses and destroys almost all cellular components
 Keratin filaments and filaggrin matrix –the only
remainders
 STRATUM CORNEUM
(Horny Layer)
 Anucleate, flat cornified cells
 General functions: mechanical barrier and
prevention of water loss
 The barrier is formed by lipid-depleted and
protein-enriched corneocytes
 Corneocytes will provide: Mechanical
reinforcement, hydration, cytokine
mediation of inflammation, UV-damage
protection
Melanocyte – neural crest derived,
pigment synthesis, resides in basal layer

Merkel cell – slow adapating type 1

mechanoreceptors, high tactile
sensitivity, found in both hairy and
glabrous skin

Langerhans cell – dendritic antigen-

processing and antigen-presenting,
Birbeck granules
Dermal-Epidermal
Junction
 Interface between epidermis and dermis
 Provide resistance against external shearing
forces
 Serves as support
 Supramolecular networks:
 Hemidesmosome
 Basement membrane
 Anchoring fibrils
 Maintenance of structural integrity
DERMIS
 Majority of skin
 Provides pliability, elasticity, and tensile
strength
 Protects from injury, binds water, thermal
regulation, has sensory recepetors
 UPPER PAPILLARY
Abuts the epidermis
Molds into its contours
Less than 2x thickness of epidermis
 DEEPER RETICULAR
Bulk of dermal tissue
Organized large-diameter collagen fibrils > ELASTIC
FIBERS + COLLAGEN FIBER BUNDLES
 Connective tissue matrix
 Collagenous and elastic fibrous tissue
 Glycoproteins, proteoglycans (PGs),
glycosamingoglycans (GAGs) of the “ground
substance”

 Collagen – acellular, 75% of dry weight of the

skin, and provides tensile strength and
elasticity
 Adult dermis – Type I (80 – 90%), Type III (8 – 12%),
and Type V (<5%)
 Elastic connective tissue
 Extends from lamina densa of DEJ to dermis and
into hypodermis
 Molecular mesh
 Present in walls of cutaneous blood vessels and
lymphatics, sheaths of hair follicles
 ELASTIN
 PG/GAG complex – bind water 1,000 X its own
volume (water binding and compressibility of
dermis)
 Major PGs – chondroitin sulfate, dermatan
sulfate, heparan sulfate
 Functions: facilitate cell migration, adhesion,
morphogenesis, and differentiation
 Cellular components of the dermis:
 Fibroblasts – extracellular framework
 Macrophages – monocytes, macrophages, and
dermal dendrocytes (monocuclear phagocytic
system)
 Mast cells – secretory cells; immediate-type
hypersensitivity reaction
BLOOD VESSELS
 Functions: nutrition,
temperature and blood
pressure regulation, wound
repair, immunologic and
processes
 Adapted to shearing forces
 Thicker walls of blood
vessels
 Supplies epidermal
appendages
Musculocutaneous arteries

Subcutaneous fat

Deep reticular dermis

Horizontal arteriolar plexus

Ascending arterioles

Epidermis

Capillary loops
 Capillary loops

Venous capillaries

Venous channels of subpapillary plexus

 Glomus bodies
 Palms and soles
 Ascending arteriole
 Connection between arterial and venous
circulation
 Potential shunts
 3 – 6 layers of smooth muscle cells
 Sympathetic nerve fibers
 LYMPHATICS

 Functions: regulate pressure of interstitial fluid

 Drains into horizontal plexus of larger lymph
vessels and so forth
 Importance in the metastasis of cancer
 NERVES AND
RECEPTORS
 Somatic sensory
 Sensory fibers (free nerve endings)
 In conjunction with corpuscular receptors
 Touch, pain, temperature, itch, and mechanical
stimuli
 Receptors: regional variation (dense in hairless
areas)

 Sympathetic autonomic fibers

 Co-distributed with sensory nerves in the dermis
 Sweat glands, vascular smooth muscle, arrector
pili, and sebaceous glands
 SPINAL NERVES (segmental)

Musculocutaneous nerves

Deep plexus nerves

Superficial/subpapillary plexus
 Free nerve endings
 Penicillate (subepidermal primary nerve fiber)
and papillary nerve fibers (orifice of a follicle)
 Most widespread sensory receptors in skin
 Schwann cells
 Common in papillary dermis
 Cholinergic sympathetic fibers > arrector pili
 Has individual Merkel cells
 Meissner’s and Pacini (corpuscle receptors)
 HYPODERMIS
(SUBCUTIS)
 Functions: Insualtion, reserve energy supply, protection
of skin (cushion), and mobility over underlying
structures
 Body contour
 Transition from fibrous dermal connective tissue to
adipose subcutaneous
 Growing hair follicles, eccrine and appocrine span
entire skin
 Adipocytes – majority of cells
 Lobular arrangement (fibrous septa)