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
» Friction stimulates Stratum corneum has a number of roles:
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 gecko’s fingers, just not as deep.
• Helps you hold on to things
– If your fingers were slick, you’d 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 skin…darker colors =
more melanin production…even 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 energy…this isn’t really safe:
» UVA inhibits DNA repair that follows UVB exposure…you
fake-bake, then walk outside and expose yourself to UVB in
sunlight…you’ve inhibited your skin’s 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 “yellow”…yellow 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
epidermis…the 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 you’re 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 length…cells
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 follicles…new 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 border…the 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
- Meissner’s 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