Integumentary system

Yosef Tadesse

1
Objectives

• By the end of this lecture, students will

be able to:
– Describe the structure and function of skin
and its appendages
– Apply this knowledge in the understanding
of skin diseases

2
Introduction

• Integumentary system is composed of

– Skin
– Accessory structures
• Hair
• Nail
• Glands
• Receptors

3
Skin

• The largest organ

– Surface area of about 1.5–2 m2
– Weighs approximately 4-5 kg
• Thickness: vary (1-2mm in most body) 
• Forms the boundary between our internal
and the external environment
• It is a pliable but tough organ which is
constantly regenerating

4
Functions
• Protection
• Chemical barrier
• Physical or Mechanical barrier
• Biological barrier
• Body Temperature Regulation
• Cutaneous Sensation
• Metabolic Functions
• Blood Reservoir
• Excretion and absorption
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Protection
• Chemical barrier
– Sweat create an acid environment that retard
reproduction of bacteria
– Sebum from sebaceous glands is bactericidal
– The dark pigment melanin in epidermis protects cells
against ultraviolet radiation
• Physical or mechanical barrier
– Provides a physical barrier against thermal and
mechanical insults and against most potential
pathogens
– Skin is also a permeability barrier against excessive
loss or uptake of water, which has allowed for
terrestrial life
6
• Biological barrier
– Microorganisms that do penetrate skin alert
resident lymphocytes and antigen-presenting
cells of skin and an immune response is
mounted
• Langerhans cells of epidermis present foreign
substances (antigens) to the lymphocytes which in
turn activate immune system
• Macrophages of the dermis dispose of viruses and
bacteria that have penetrated the skin

7
Body Temperature Regulation
• A constant body temperature is normally
maintained by
– the skin's insulating components (eg, the
fatty layer and hair on the head)
– its mechanisms for accelerating heat loss
• 2 ways:
– Sweat production: Cooling occurs through
evaporation of water from the surface of the
skin
– Adjustment of blood flow in dermis: Cooling
occurs through radiation of heat
8
Cutaneous Sensation
• The skin is richly supplied with cutaneous
sensory receptors
• Many types of sensory receptors allow skin to
constantly monitor the environment and various
mechanoreceptors with specific locations in
skin are important for the body's interactions
with physical objects
• Include
– Tactile sensations
– Thermal sensations
– Pain sensation
9
Metabolic Functions
• Cells of skin synthesize vitamin D3,
needed in calcium metabolism and proper
bone formation, through the local action
of UV light on the vitamin's precursor
• Keratinocyte enzymes can “disarm” many
carcinogens
• Keratinocytes can also activate steroid
hormones

10
Blood Reservoir
• The skin can hold about 8-10% of the body’s
entire blood volume
• Blood can be diverted from the skin to other
organs in need
• Blood is diverted to the skin for temperature
regulation

11
Excretion and absorption
• Limited role
• Sweat excretes water, heat, electrolytes,
salts, CO2 and nitrogen-containing wastes
(ammonia, urea, and uric acid)
• Certain lipid soluble materials penetrate skin
– Fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K), certain drugs, some toxic
materials and the gases (oxygen and carbon dioxide)
– Skin can absorb organic solvents such as acetone (in some nail
polish removers) and carbon tetrachloride (dry-cleaning fluid);
salts of heavy metals such as lead, mercury, and arsenic; and
the substances in poison ivy and poison oak.
– Skin's selective permeability allows some lipophilic drugs to be
administered via skin patches
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Skin Layers
• 2 layers: Epidermis and dermis
• Epidermis
– Outermost protective shield of the body
– Composed of epithelial cells
– Avascular
• Dermis
– A tough leathery layer deep to the epidermis
– Making up the bulk of the skin
– Composed of fibrous connective tissue
– Vascular
13
 Epidermis

• The epidermis consists of a stratified

squamous keratinized epithelium
composed of cells called keratinocytes
• Three less abundant epidermal cell types
are also present:
– pigment-producing melanocytes
– antigen-presenting Langerhans cells
– tactile epithelial cells or Merkel cells

14
15
• Two types of skin
– Thick and thin
• thick skin, found on the palms and soles
• thin skin, found elsewhere on the body
– The designations "thick" and "thin" refer to the
thickness of the epidermal layer, which varies from
75 to 150 µm for thin skin and from 400 to 1400
µm (1.4 mm) for thick skin
• Total skin thickness (epidermis plus dermis)
also varies according to site
– skin on the back is about 4 mm thick, whereas that
of the scalp is about 1.5 mm thick

16
Layers of epidermis
• From the dermis outward, the epidermis
consists of four layers of keratinocytes in
thin skin and five layers in thick skin:
– Stratum basale
– Stratum spinosum
– Stratum granulosum
– Stratum lucidum (only in thick skin)
– Stratum corneum

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18
Layers of epidermis in thin skin: epidermal pegs (EP); dermal
papillae (DP); dermis (D); stratum basale (B); stratum spinosum
(S); stratum granulosum (G); stratum corneum (C)
19
• Basal layer (stratum basale)
– Single layer of basophilic columnar or cuboidal
cells on the basement membrane at the
dermal-epidermal junction
– Hemidesmosomes in the basal plasmalemma
help bind these cells to the basal lamina and
desmosomes bind the cells of this layer
together in their lateral and upper surfaces
– Characterized by intense mitotic activity and
is responsible, in conjunction with the initial
portion of the next layer, for constant
production of epidermal cells

20
– The human epidermis is renewed about every
15–30 days, depending on age, the region of
the body, and other factors
– All keratinocytes in the stratum basale
contain intermediate filaments composed of
keratins
– As the cells progress upward, the amount
and types of keratin filaments increase

21
• Spinous layer (stratum spinosum)
– The thickest epidermal layer
– Consists of polyhedral or slightly flattened cells
having central nuclei with nucleoli and cytoplasm
actively synthesizing keratin filaments
– Just above the basal layer some cells may still divide
and this combined zone is sometimes called the
stratum germinativum
– The keratin filaments form microscopically visible
bundles called tonofibrils which converge and
terminate at the numerous desmosomes
– Cytoplasm is drawn into short cellular extensions
around the tonofibrils on both sides of each
desmosome leading to the appearance of many short
spiny projections
22
Section of skin from the sole of the foot (thick skin), showing
only the stratum spinosum, highlights cells with numerous, short
cytoplasmic projections (arrow) 23
• Granular layer (stratum granulosum)
– Consists of 3–5 layers of flattened polygonal cells
undergoing terminal differentiation
– Cytoplasm is filled with intensely basophilic masses
called keratohyaline granules and membrane-coated
lamellar granules (small ovoid structures containing
many lamellae composed of various lipids)
• Lamellar granules undergo exocytosis, discharging their
contents into the intercellular spaces of the stratum
granulosum
• This lipid-rich material produces sheets that envelop the
cells, which are now little more than flattened sacs filled
with keratins and associated proteins
• The layer of lipid envelopes is a major component of the
epidermal barrier against the loss of water from skin
– Together, keratinization and production of the lipid-
rich layer have a crucial sealing effect in skin, forming
the barrier to penetration by most foreign materials
24
• Stratum lucidum
– Only seen in thick skin
– Consists of a thin, translucent layer of
extremely flattened eosinophilic cells
– The nuclei and organelles have been lost and
the cytoplasm consists almost only of densely
packed keratin filaments embedded in an
electron-dense matrix
– Desmosomes are still evident between
adjacent cells

25
Stratum granulosum and stratum lucidum: thick skin: stratum spinosum (S);
stratum granulosum (G); stratum lucidum (L); stratum corneum (C)
26
• Stratum corneum
– Consists of 15–20 layers of flattened,
nonnucleated keratinized cells whose
cytoplasm is filled with filamentous keratins
– After keratinization, the cells contain only
fibrillar and amorphous proteins with
thickened plasma membranes and are called
squames or horny, cornified cells
– These cells are continuously shed at the
surface of the stratum corneum

27
MEDICAL APPLICATION
• Psoriasis
– An increase in the number of proliferating
cells in the stratum basale and the stratum
spinosum as well as a decrease in the cycle
time of these cells
– This results in greater epidermal thickness
and more rapid renewal of epidermis, but also
can produce abnormal keratinization with a
defective skin barrier

28
 Keratinocyte
• Principal cell
• Arise from constant cell mitosis at the deepest
layer
• Migrate upward through various layers of the
epidermis
• Keratinocyte cells manufacture keratin during
their migration to the skin surface
– As cells migrate to the surface their contents become
dominated by keratin
– The cells will deform to become flattened, dead
structures that are keratin filled
– Million of cells on the free surface rub off daily
– Cell reproduction is higher in areas subject to friction
– This process is called keratinization
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Melanocytes
• Spider shaped cells found among the cells of
the basal layer and in the hair follicles
• Specialized epithelial cells that synthesize
the pigment melanin
– Two types
• Eumelanin: brownish black pigment
• Pheomelanin:similar pigment found in red hair
• Melanocytes are neural crest derivatives
which migrate into the developing epidermis'
stratum basale, where eventually one
melanocyte accumulates for every five or six
basal keratinocytes (600–1200/mm2 of skin)

30
• They have rounded cell bodies and form
hemidesmosomes with the basal lamina, but no
desmosomes with adjacent keratinocytes
• Long irregular dendritic extensions from each
melanocyte branch into the epidermis, running
between the cells of the basal and spinous
layers and terminating in invaginations of the
neighboring five to ten keratinocytes
• Ultrastructurally, a melanocyte is a pale-
staining cell with numerous small mitochondria,
short cisternae of RER, and a well-developed
Golgi apparatus
• Melanin granules are transported to the tips of
the melanocyte's dendrites 31
• The associated keratinocytes phagocytose the tips
of these dendrites
• These are transported along to the region near the
nucleus and accumulate as a supranuclear cap which
absorbs and scatters sunlight, protecting nuclear
DNA from the deleterious effects of UV radiation
• Although melanocytes synthesize melanin, the
keratinocytes act as a depot and contain more of
this pigment than the cells that make it
• One melanocyte plus the keratinocytes into which
it transfers melanosomes make up an epidermal-
melanin unit
• The density of such units is similar in all individuals

32
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MEDICAL APPLICATION
• Albinism
– Hereditary inability of the melanocytes to
synthesize melanin
– As a result, the skin is not protected from
solar radiation by melanin, and there is a
greater incidence of skin cancers
• Vitiligo
– The degeneration and disappearance of entire
melanocytes causes a patchy loss of pigment
in the skin  

34
Langerhans (Dendritic) Cells
• Usually seen in the spinous layer
• Represent 2–8% of the epidermal cells
• Cytoplasmic processes extend from these
cells between keratinocytes of all the
layers, forming a fairly dense network in
the epidermis
• Function
– Bone marrow–derived, blood-borne cells,
capable of binding, processing, and
presenting antigens to T lymphocytes
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Tactile (Merkel) Cells
• Resemble pale-staining keratinocytes with
keratin filaments in their cytoplasm but few if
any melanosomes
• Small, Golgi-derived dense-core neurosecretory
granules containing peptides like those of
neuroendocrine cells are a characteristic
feature
• Located in the basal epidermal layer in areas of
high tactile sensitivity and at the bases of hair
follicles
• The basolateral surfaces of the cells contact
expanded terminal discs of unmyelinated
sensory fibers that penetrate the basal lamina;
together called Merkel disc
• Function: Mechanoreceptors, sensitive to light
touch  
36
Dermis
• Connective tissue that supports the epidermis
and binds it to the subcutaneous tissue
• The thickness of the dermis varies according
to the region of the body, and reaches its
maximum of 4 mm on the back
• The surface of the dermis is very irregular and
has many projections (dermal papillae) that
interdigitate with projections (epidermal pegs
or ridges) of the epidermis
– Dermal papillae are more numerous in skin that is
subjected to frequent pressure, where they
reinforce the dermal-epidermal junction

37
• A basement membrane is always found
between the stratum basale and the
papillary layer of the dermis and follows
the contour of the interdigitations
between these layers
• Nutrients for keratinocytes must diffuse
into the avascular epidermis from the
dermis vasculature through this basement
membrane

38
• Layers of dermis
– Two layers with rather indistinct boundaries
• Papillary layer
– Constitutes the major part of the
dermal papillae
– Thin, composed of loose connective
tissue, with fibroblasts and other
connective tissue cells
– From this layer, anchoring fibrils of
type VII collagen insert into the basal
lamina and bind the dermis to the
epidermis

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• Reticular layer
– Thicker; accounts for 80% of the dermis
– Composed of dense irregular connective tissue
(mainly bundles of type I collagen), and has more
fibers and fewer cells than the papillary layer
– Collagen fibers of the dermis give the skin its
strength and resiliency
– Collagen binds water, helping to maintain
hydration
– A network of elastic fibers is also present,
providing elasticity to the skin
– Spaces between the collagen and elastic fibers
are filled with proteoglycans rich in dermatan
sulfate 40
Elastic fibers of dermis: extensive distribution of darkly
stained elastic fibers among the eosinophilic collagen bundles
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Dermal ridges
• On the hands and soles of the feet, the papillae
lie atop dermal ridges
• The dermal ridges produce conspicuous looped
and whorled ridges on the epidermal surface
which increase the grip of the fingers and feet
• Sweat pores open along the crests of the
epidermal ridges leaving a film of sweat we know
as fingerprints

43
 Lines of cleavage (Tension lines)
• In certain regions of the
body, collagen fibers tend to
orient more in one direction
than another
• Lines of cleavage (tension
lines) in the skin indicate the
predominant direction of
underlying collagen fibers
• Surgical incision running
parallel to the collagen fibers
will heal with only a fine scar
• A surgical incision made
across the rows of fibers
disrupts the collagen, and
the wound tends to gape open
and heal in a broad, thick
scar
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• Dermal stretching
– During pregnancy dermal tearing may occur
indicated by silvery white scars or “stretch
marks”
• Blisters
– Separation of the epidermal and dermal layers
with the resulting development of a fluid filled
pocket
• Flexure lines
– Dermal folds that occur at or near joints where
the dermis is secured to deeper structures
– Folds occur on the surface of the wrists, palms,
soles of the feet, fingers and toes
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Age and skin
• With age
– Collagen fibers thicken
– Collagen synthesis decreases
– Extensive cross-linking of collagen fibers
occurs
– Loss of elastic fibers occurs
– Degeneration of these fibers due to
excessive exposure to the sun
• Cause the skin to become more fragile,
lose its suppleness, and develop wrinkles 46
Skin Color
• The color of the skin is the result of several
factors, the most important of which is the
keratinocytes' content of melanin
• The presence of the pigment carotene and the
number of blood vessels in the dermis also
determine color temporarily
– i.e.: three pigments contribute to skin color;
melanin, carotene, and hemoglobin

47
Melanin
• All humans have the same amount of melanocytes
• Racial differences in skin coloring is due to the kind and
amount of melanin made and retained
• Melanocytes of people with ancestral origins near the
equator, where the need for protection against the sun
is greatest, produce darker melanin granules more
rapidly and accumulate them in keratinocytes more
abundantly
• UV radiation causes keratinocytes to secrete various
paracrine factors that stimulate melanocyte activity
• Darkening of the skin (tanning) after exposure to solar
radiation is the result of a two-step process
– First, a physicochemical reaction darkens preexisting melanin
– Next, the rates of melanin synthesis in the melanocytes and
transfer to keratinocytes accelerate, increasing the amount of
this pigment
48
Carotene
• Yellow to orange pigment found in certain plant products
• It tends to accumulate in the stratum corneum and the
fatty tissue of the hypodermis
• It is most obvious on the palms and soles of the feet
where the stratum corneum is thickest
Hemoglobin
• Located in red blood cells circulating in the dermal
capillaries
• The crimson color of oxygenated hemoglobin gives fair
skin its pinkish hue
• When hemoglobin is poorly oxygenated the blood and
skin of light skinned people appears blue

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Skin color anomalies
• Redness - embarrassment, fever, allergy,
inflammation or hypertension
• Blanching - emotional stress, anemia, or
low blood pressure
• Jaundice - liver disorder resulting in a
buildup of bile pigments
• Bronzing - metallic appearance of skin due
to hypofunction of the adrenal cortex
• Black and blue - clotted blood masses
under the skin
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Subcutaneous Tissue
• Consists of loose connective tissue that binds
the skin loosely to the subjacent organs, making
it possible for the skin to slide over them
• Also called the hypodermis or superficial fascia
• Contains fat cells that vary in number in
different regions of the body and vary in size
according to nutritional state
• Not considered as part of the skin, but it
shares some of the skins protective functions
• Functions
– store fat
– anchor the skin to the underlying muscles
– act as insulator against heat loss
51
Vessels
• The connective tissue of the skin contains a
rich network of blood and lymphatic vessels
• Blood vessels: Form two major plexuses:
– Cutaneous plexus
• Lies at junction of hypodermis and dermis
• Supply hypodermis, deeper dermis, hair follicles
and glands
– Sub papillary plexus
• lies just beneath dermal papilla between the
papillary and reticular dermal layers
• sends branches into the dermal papillae and
supplies a rich, nutritive capillary network just
below the epidermis

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• Arteriovenous anastomoses
– Shunts located between the two major
plexuses
– Has a thermoregulatory function
– The shunts decrease blood flow in the
papillary layer to minimize heat loss in cold
conditions and increase this flow to facilitate
heat loss when it is hot, thus helping maintain
a constant body temperature
• Lymphatic vessels
– Begin as closed sacs in the dermal papillae
and converge to form two plexuses located
with the blood vessels
53
Sensory Receptors
• With its large surface and external location,
the skin functions as an extensive receiver for
certain stimuli from the environment
• A variety of sensory receptors are present in
skin, including both simple nerve endings with no
covering and more complex structures with
sensory fibers enclosed by glia and delicate
connective tissue capsules

54
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• Unencapsulated receptors
– Tactile discs
• associated with the epidermal tactile cells
• receptors for light touch
– Free nerve endings
• in the papillary dermis and extending into lower
epidermal layers
• respond primarily to high and low temperatures,
pain, and itching, but also function as tactile
receptors
– Root hair plexuses
• a web of sensory fibers surrounding the bases of
hair follicles in the reticular dermis
• detects movements of the hairs 

56
• Encapsulated receptors (are tactile
mechanoreceptors)
– Tactile corpuscles (Meissner corpuscles)
• elliptical structures
• perpendicular to the epidermis in the
dermal papillae and papillary layer of the
fingertips, palms and soles
• detect light touch
• few spiraling dendrites are surrounded by
Schwann cells, which in turn are
surrounded by an egg-shaped capsule of
connective tissue
57
Tactile (Meissner) corpuscle (TC): dermal
papillae (DP); epidermis (E) 58
– Lamellated (Pacinian) corpuscles
• large oval structures
• found deep in the reticular dermis or
hypodermis
• with an outer capsule and 15 to 50 thin,
concentric lamellae of flat Schwann-type
cells and collagen surrounding a highly
branched, unmyelinated axon
• specialized for sensing coarse touch,
pressure (sustained touch), and vibrations
– Krause corpuscles and Ruffini corpuscles
• encapsulated, pressure-sensing
mechanoreceptors in dermis, but are more
poorly characterized structurally   59
Lamellated (Pacinian) corpuscle 60
Hair
• Hairs are elongated keratinized structures
derived from invaginations of the epidermal
epithelium called hair follicles
• 2 parts
– Hair shaft: the part that projects from the
skin
– Hair root: the part embedded in the skin
• The color, size, shape and texture of hairs vary
according to age, genetic background, and region
of the body
• All skin has at least minimal hair except that of
the palms, soles, lips, eyelids, nipple, glans penis,
clitoris, and labia minora
• The face has about 600 hairs/cm2 and the
remainder of the body has about 60/cm2 61
62
• Hair follicle
– An epithelial and connective tissue sheath
that surround root of hair in the dermis
– The hair follicle has a terminal dilatation
called a hair bulb
– A dermal papilla inserts into the base of the
hair bulb and contains a capillary network
required to sustain the hair follicle
– The epidermal cells covering this dermal
papilla form the hair root matrix that
produces and is continuous with the hair
shaft protruding beyond the skin surface
63
• Papilla (a) protrudes b
into a hair bulb and
supplies nutrients c
• The wall of the
follicle is made of an
outer connective
tissue sheath (b) and
inner epithelial root
sheath (c)
• A single layer of
stratum basale cells d
(d) divide to form
hair a

64
65
• The epithelial cells (keratinocytes) that
make up the hair bulb are similar to those
in the basal and spinous layers of
epidermis
• They divide constantly and then undergo
keratinization, differentiating into
specific cell types
• Medulla
• The cells of the central region of the root at the
apex of the dermal papilla produce large,
vacuolated, and moderately keratinized cells that
form the medulla of the hair
66
• Cortex
– Other cells differentiate into heavily
keratinized, compactly grouped fusiform
cells that form the hair cortex
• Cuticle
– The most peripheral cells produce the hair
cuticle, a thin layer of heavily keratinized
cells covering the cortex
• Melanocytes in the hair bulb transfer
melanin granules into the epithelial cells
that will later differentiate to form the
hair 
67
Hair root: medulla (M), cortex (CO), and cuticle (CU)
68
• The wall of the follicle is made of an outer
connective tissue sheath and inner epithelial root
sheath
• Epithelial root sheath
– Surrounds the hair bulb with the outermost cells
of hair bulb are continuous with it
– Form two layers
• Internal root sheath
– completely surrounds the initial part of the hair
but degenerates above the level of the attached
sebaceous glands
• External root sheath
– covers the internal sheath and extends all the way
to the epidermis, where it is continuous with the
basal and spinous layers
69
• Separating the hair follicle from the dermis is
an acellular layer, the thickened basement
membrane called the glassy membrane
• The surrounding dermis forms a connective
tissue sheath
• Running from a midpoint on this sheath and to
the dermal papillary layer is a small bundle of
smooth muscle cells, the arrector pili muscle
– Contraction of these muscles pulls the hair shafts to a more
erect position, usually when it is cold in an effort to trap a layer
of warm air near the skin
– In regions where hair is fine, contraction of arrector pili muscles
is seen to produce tiny bumps on the skin surface ("goose
bumps") where each contracting muscle distorts the attached
dermis
70
71
The base of a hair follicle: dermal papilla (DP); connective tissue
sheath (CTS); internal root sheath (IRS) and external root sheath
(ERS); glassy membrane (G); cortex (CO) 72
• Hair color is produced by the activity of melanocytes
located between the papilla and the epithelial cells of the
hair root
• The melanocytes produce and transfer melanin granules to
these keratinocytes by a mechanism that is generally
similar to that for the epidermis
• However, keratinization to produce hair does differ in
some respects
– Unlike epidermal keratinization where terminal
differentiation of all cells gives rise to the stratum
corneum, cells in the hair root differentiate into the
cell types of the hair medulla, cortex, and cuticle
– Keratin of hair has a harder and more compact nature
than that of stratum corneum, maintaining its structure
much longer
– Keratinization in the epidermis occurs continuously and
over the entire surface, it is intermittent in the hair
and occurs only in the hair root
73
Hair types
• Vellus and terminal
– The body hair of children and women is
the fine vellus variety
– Hair of the eyebrows and scalp is called
terminal hair
– At puberty terminal hair appears in the
axillary and pubic regions of both sexes

74
Hair Growth
• Hairs grow discontinuously, with periods of growth
followed by periods of rest, and this growth does not
occur synchronously in all regions of the body or even
in the same area
• The duration of the growth and rest periods also varies
according to the region of the body
• In the scalp, growth periods may last for several years,
whereas the periods of follicle regression and
inactivity may together last only 3 to 4 months
• Hair growth on the face and pubis is strongly
influenced by sex hormones
• The rate of hair growth varies from region to region
and with sex and age, but averages 2 mm a week

75
76
Growing hair Resting hair

77
Nails
• Hard, flexible plates of keratin on the dorsal
surface of each distal phalanx
• Produced by a similar process of keratinization
• The proximal part of the nail is the nail root
and is covered by the proximal skin fold which
is thin and lacks both hair and glands
• The epidermal stratum corneum extending from
the proximal nail fold forms the cuticle, or
eponychium
• The keratinized nail plate is bound to a bed of
epidermis called the nail bed, which contains
only the basal and spinous layers
78
• The nail plate arises from the nail matrix,
which extends from the nail root
• Cells of the matrix divide, move distally, and
become keratinized, forming the nail root
• This matures as the nail plate, with continuous
growth in the matrix pushes forward over the
nail bed (which makes no contribution to the
plate) at about 3 mm/month for fingernails and
1 mm/month for toenails 
• The distal end of the plate becomes free of the
nail bed at the epidermal fold called the
hyponychium and is worn away or cut off
• The nearly transparent nail plate and the thin
epithelium of the nail bed provide a useful
window on the amount of oxygen in the blood by
showing the color of blood in the dermal vessels
79
Surface view of a finger shows the nail's major
parts 80
Sagittal section of finger tip
81
sagittal section from a fetal finger: proximal nail fold (PNF); eponychium (E) or
cuticle; nail root (NR), the most proximal region of the nail plate (NP); dorsal nail
matrix (DNM); ventral nail matrix (VNM); nail bed (NB); dermis (D)
82
Glands of the Skin
• Sebaceous Glands
– Embedded in the dermis over most of the
body surface, except the palms and soles
– There is an average of about 100 such glands
per square centimeter of skin, but the
frequency increases to 400–900/cm2 in the
face and scalp
– Sebaceous glands are branched acinar glands
with several acini converging at a short duct
which usually empties into the upper portion
of a hair follicle

83
– In certain hairless regions, such as the genitals,
eyelids, and nipples, sebaceous ducts open
directly onto the epidermal surface
– The acini consist of a basal layer of
undifferentiated flattened epithelial cells on the
basal lamina
– These cells proliferate and are displaced toward
the middle of the acinus, undergoing terminal
differentiation as distinctly large, lipid-producing
sebocytes which have their cytoplasm filled with
small fat droplets
– Their nuclei shrink and undergo autophagy along
with other organelles and near the duct the cells
disintegrate and release the lipids via holocrine
secretion

84
– The product of this process is sebum, which is
gradually moved to the surface of the skin along
the hair follicle or duct
– Sebum is a complex mixture of lipids
– Secretion from sebaceous glands greatly
increases at puberty, stimulated by hormones
– Functions of sebum
• coats the surface of hairs and helps keep them from
drying and becoming brittle
• prevents excessive evaporation of water from the
skin
• keeps the skin soft and pliable
• inhibits the growth of some bacteria

85
Small cells near the connective tissue capsule which proliferate and
give rise to an acinus composed of large sebocytes (S), which
undergo terminal differentiation by filling with small lipid droplets
and then disintegrating at the ducts (D) near the hair (H) shaft
86
capsule and differentiating sebocytes 87
MEDICAL APPLICATION

• Acne
– A chronic inflammation of obstructed
sebaceous glands
– Common during and after puberty
– The flow of sebum is continuous, and a
disturbance in the normal secretion and
flow of sebum is one of the reasons for the
development of acne

88
 Sweat Glands
• Sweat glands are epithelial derivatives embedded in
the dermis which open to the skin surface or into hair
follicles
• Two types
– Eccrine sweat glands
– Apocrine sweat glands
• The two have different distributions, functions, and
structural details
• Eccrine sweat glands
– Widely distributed in the skin and are most
numerous on the soles of the feet (620/cm2)
– Both the secretory portions and ducts of eccrine
sweat glands are coiled and have small lumens

  89
– The secretory part lies coiled in the dermis
and the duct extends to open in a funnel
shaped pore
– The secretory part is generally more pale-
staining than the ducts and has stratified
cuboidal epithelium consisting of three cell
types
• Clear cells
– pale pyramidal or columnar cells
– produce sweat
– have abundant mitochondria and microvilli to
provide large surface areas

90
• Dark cells
– as numerous as the clear cells
– pyramidal which line most of the luminal surface and
do not touch the basal lamina
– mucoid and filled with glycoprotein-containing granules
whose functions are not well-understood but include
components of innate immunity with bactericidal
activity
• Myoepithelial cells
– on the basal lamina
– produce contractions that help discharge secretion
into the duct
• When the body temperature starts to rise above normal levels, the
sweat glands produce sweat, which evaporates and cools the body.
• Sweat also can be released in the palms, soles, and axillae as a result
of emotional stress
91
• Apocrine sweat glands
– confined to skin of axillary and perineal regions
– development depends on sex hormones and is not
complete until puberty
– are compound coiled tubular glands
– has much larger lumen than eccrine glands
– their ducts open into hair follicles rather than to the
epidermal surface
– the secretory portions of consist of simple cuboidal,
eosinophilic cells with numerous apical secretory
granules that undergo exocytosis
– Thus the gland is misnamed: cells show merocrine, not apocrine
secretion
– secretion contain the same basic components as sweat plus some
fatty substances and protein
– the slightly viscous secretion is initially odorless but may acquire a
distinctive odor as a result of bacterial activity to cause what
commonly is known as body odor
– Many mammals use scent as a means of communication, and it has
been suggested that the activity of apocrine sweat glands may be a
sign of sexual maturity 92
93
Eccrine sweat gland: small lumens in the secretory portions
(S) and the ducts (D), both of which have an irregular
stratified cuboidal appearance 94
Eccrine sweat gland: The secretory portions of eccrine sweat glands
have a stratified cuboidal epithelium, containing cell types with
different staining properties. Cells closest to the lumen contain
eosinophilic granules. 95
Apocrine sweat glands: secretory portion composed of simple cuboidal
epithelium (S), lumens are much larger than those of eccrine glands,
and their ducts open into hair follicles (H) rather than to the
epidermal surface 96
Ceruminous glands
• Modified apocrine glands found in the lining
of the external acoustic meatus
• Secrete cerumen (earwax) which because of
its sticky texture deters insects and foreign
material from entering the ear

97