Week 3- Integumentary System Flashcards
(118 cards)
Integument
-Skin covering your body
-body’s largest organ
-surface epithelium protects underlying body layer
-connective tissue that is deep to epithelium provides strength and resilience
-also contains smooth muscle associated with hair follicles (arrector pili)
-nervous tissue detects and monitors sensory stimuli (touch, pressure, temp, and pain)
-7-8% of body weight and about 1.5-2 square meters
-2 layers:
1) epidermis
2) dermis
Cutaneous membrane
Another word for skin
Integumentary System
-Consists of the skin and its derivatives: nails, hair, sweat glands, and sebaceous (oil) glands
What does every square inch of skin contain on average?
up to 20 feet of blood vessels, 650 sweat glands, 100 sebaceous glands, and over 100 nerve endings
What can the skin do?
-acts as barrier to outside world
-subjected to trauma, harmful chemical, pollutants, microbes, and damaging sunlight
-changes in color may reflect body disorders or anomalies
-skin changes and lesion sometimes reflect systemic infections or disease
Dermatology
Scientific study and treatment of integumentary system
Epidermis
-keratinized, stratified squamous epithelial tissue
-0.075-0.6 mm thick
Layers of epidermis (Superficial to deep)
1) Stratum corneum
2) Stratum lucidum (only in thick skin)
3) Stratum granulosum
4) Stratum spinosum
5) Stratum basale
Stratum corneum
-“horny layer”
-most superficial layer of epidermis
-20-30 layers of dead, scaly, interlocking, keratinized cells
-dead keratinocytes are anucleated (lacking nucleus) and tightly packed
-cells contain large amount of keratin
-keratinocytes are made in stratum basale and move up to stratum corneum where they are sloughed off
-thickened surface as well as exocrine secretions help prevent growth of microorganisms
Stratum lucidum
-“clear layer”
-2-3 keratinocyte layers, cells are pale and flattened
-deep to stratum corneum
-ONLY IN THICK SKIN
-helps protect from UV light
Stratum granulosum
-“granular layer”
-3-5 layers of keratinocytes superficial to stratum spinosum
-process of keratinization begins (keratinocytes synthesize significant amounts of keratin)
-accumulation of keratin causes both nucleus and organelles to disintegrate which results in death of these cells
Stratum spinosum
-keratinocytes attach to their neighbors by many membrane junctions called desmosomes (which provide structural support between cells of epidermis)
-also contains epidermal dendritic cells
Epidermal dendritic cells
-immune cells are immune cells that help fight infection in epidermis
-present in stratum spinosum and stratum granulosum
-phagocytic activity initiates immune response to protect body against pathogens that have penetrated superficial epidermal layers as well as epidermal cancer cells
Stratum Basale
-deepest epidermal layer
-“basal layer”
-single layer of cuboidal/columnar cells attached to underlying basement membrane that separates epidermis from dermis
3 Cell Types of Stratum Basale
1) Keratinocytes
2) Melanocytes
3) Tactile/Merkel cells
Keratinocytes
-most abundant cell type in epidermis
-stem cells divide to generate new keratinocytes that replace dead ones shed from surface
-gives skin its strength and makes epidermis water resistant
Melanocytes
-have long branching processes
-produce and store the pigment melanin in response UV light exposure
-tanning is result of melanocytes producing melanin to block UV light from causing mutations in DNA in keratinocytes and fibroblasts
Tactile Cells
-few in number and scattered about
-sensitive to touch and when compressed they release chemicals that stimulate sensory nerve endings
-more common in sensitive areas like fingertips
How is skin classified as thick or thin?
number of layers and thickness of stratified squamous epithelium
Thick skin
-palms of hands and soles of feet
-has all 5 epidermal strata
-0.4mm-0.6mm thick
-houses sweat glands but no hair follicles or sebaceous glands
Thin skin
-covers most of body
-has 4/5 layers of epidermis (lacks stratum lucidum)
-contains hair follicles, sebaceous glands, and sweat glands
-0.075-0.150mm thick
Skin color
-normal skin color results from colors of hemoglobin, melanin, and carotene
Hemoglobin
-exhibits a bright red color upon binding oxygen, thus giving blood vessels in dermis a reddish tint that is most easily seen in light pigmented individuals
Melanin
-pigment produced and stored in melanocytes
-2 types: eumelanin (brown and black) and pheomelanin (light tan, yellow, and red)
-all people have same number of melanocytes
-melanocyte activity, type of melanin present, and color of melanin produced by
these cells result in different color skin tones