Integementary System Flashcards
What are the functions of the integumentary system?
Temp regulation, protects tissue, retardation of water loss, houses sensory receptors, synthesizes certain chemicals, and excreting certain wastes
What types of tissue make up the epidermis, dermis and subcutaneous layers?
Epidermis - stratified squamous epithelium
Dermis - dense connective tissue
Subcutaneous layer - areolar and adipose tissue
What are the layers of the epidermis? Give a brief description of each one.
Stratum corneum - shingle-like dead cells filled with keratin
Stratum lucidum - mainly in the thick hairless skin of palms and soles of feet
Stratum granulosum - cells have lost nuclei and have dark clumps of cytoplasm, continued production of keratin and water proofing lipids
Stratum spinosum - secretes lipids that help water proof skin and keratinization starts here
Stratum basale - cells undergoing mitosis, daughter cells are pushed upward to become more superficial layers
What is keratin, how is it formed, and what is its function
Produced by keratinocytes and it is a protein that prevents water loss from hair and skin
What is melanin, which cell produces it, and what is its basic function?
Pigment produced by melanocytes in the stratum basale mostly. Protects deeper cells from UV radiation.
What are the major determinants of skin color?
Genetics, environmental, physiological
What are dermal papillae?
Unique projections in the upper dermal region that make up your fingerprints
Describe the 3 most common types of skin cancer
Basal cell carcinoma - least malignant, most common, arises from stratum basale
Squamous cell carcinoma - metastasizes to lymph nodes, early removal is key, sun induced, arises from stratum spinosum
Malignant melanoma - most deadly, cancer of melanocytes, spreads quickly to lymph and blood vessels
Describe how hair grows
Individual hairs develop from cells at base of hair follicle. As new cells are formed, old cells are pushed up and become keratinized and die forming the hair shaft
What determines hair color?
Genetics determine whether you’ll have eumelanin or pheomelanin
What is the function of the arrector pili muscle?
Bundle of smooth muscle attached to each hair follicle that causes hair to stand up when cold or frightened “goose bumps”
What are the types of skin/cutaneous glands?
Sebaceous glands, sweat glands, ceruminous glands, mammary glands
What is the difference between eccrine and apocrine sweat glands and the type of sweat they produce?
Merocrine (eccrine) secretes salty water onto the skin surface to cool you off and apocrine secretes into hair follicles when stressed/aroused. Apocrine has more lipids/fatty acids causing it to smell/taste different
Describe how skin is involved in temperature regulations
Eccrine glands secrete moisture onto skin to cool you down and blood vessels dilate to make moisture evaporate. When cold, vessels constrict to retain heat.
Describe the stages of wound healing/tissue repair.
Inflammation - blood vessels dilate and become permeable
Superficial cuts are filled in by epithelial cells while deeper cuts are closed off by clots, covered by scabs, and eventually filled in by fibroblasts
Large wounds leave scars and possibly granulation (scar) tissue
