Skin structure

The mammalian epidermis has several layers of cells, known as keratinocytes, which arise by cell division in a basal stratum germinativum. This rests on a basement membrane closely anchored to the surface of the dermis. Newly formed cells move outward, and at first form part of the prickle cell layer (stratum spinosum), in which they are knit together by plaquelike structures called desmosomes. Next they move through a granular layer (stratum granulosum), in which they become laden with keratohyalin, a granular component of keratin. Finally the cells flatten, lose their nuclei, and form the stratum corneum. The dead cells at the skin surface are ultimately sloughed, or desquamated. In thick, glabrous skin lacking hair follicles, such as that on human palms and soles, a clear layer, called the stratum lucidum, can be distinguished between the stratum granulosum and the stratum corneum.

The important barrier to outward loss of water or inward passage of chemicals lies in a compact zone of the lower stratum corneum. There the spaces between the layers of the cornified cells are tightly packed with lipid (waxy) platelets that have been produced inside so-called membrane coating granules within the underlying epidermal cells. As well as the clear horizontal stratification of the epidermis, a vertical organization is also apparent, at least in nonglabrous skin, in the sense that the ascending keratinizing cells appear to form regular columns.

In the basal layer, groups of keratinocytes are each associated with a single dendritic (branching) pigment cell to form “epidermal melanocyte units.” In addition to keratinocytes and melanocytes, the mammalian epidermis contains two other cell types: Merkel cells and Langerhans cells. Merkel cells form parts of sensory structures. Langerhans cells are dendritic but unpigmented and are found nearer the skin surface than melanocytes. After a century of question about their purpose, it is now clear that they have a vital immunologic function.

The dermis forms the bulk of the mammalian skin. It is composed of an association of connective tissue fibres, mainly collagen, with a ground substance of mucopolysaccharide materials (glycosaminoglycans), which can hold a quantity of water in its domain. Two regions can be distinguished—an outer papillary layer and an inner reticular layer. The papillary layer is so called by reason of the numerous microscopic papillae that rise into the epidermis, especially in areas of wear or friction on the skin. These papillae, not to be confused with the “dermal papillae” of the hair follicles (see below), are arranged in definite patterns beneath epidermal ridges. In humans these external ridges are responsible for the fingerprints, or dermatoglyphs. The reticular layer has denser collagen than the papillary layer, and it houses the various skin glands, vessels, muscle cells, and nerve endings.

Hair

In evolution, the overriding importance of hair is to insulate the warm-blooded mammals against heat loss. Hairs have other uses, however. Their function as sensory organs may, indeed, predate their role in protection from cold. Large stiff hairs (vibrissae), variously called whiskers, sensory hairs, tactile hairs, feelers, and sinus hairs, are found in all mammals except humans and are immensely helpful to night-prowling animals. Vibrissae are part of a highly specialized structure that contains a mass of erectile tissue and a rich sensory nerve supply. These specialized hairs are few in number, their distribution being confined chiefly to the lips, cheeks, and nostrils and around the eyes; they occur elsewhere only occasionally. Human eyelashes consist of sensory hairs that cause reflex shutting of the eyelid when a speck of dust hits them.

Hair may also be concerned in sexual or social communication, either by forming visible structures, like the mane of the lion or the human beard, or by disseminating the product of scent glands, as in the ventral gland of gerbils or the human axillary organ. Hair is important as well in determining the coloration and pattern of the mammalian coat, serving either as camouflage or as a means of calling attention to the animal or a specific part of its body.

In essence, each hair is a cylinder of compacted and keratinized cells growing from a pit in the skin—the hair follicle. The follicle consists mainly of a tubular indentation of the epidermis that fits over a small stud of dermis—the dermal papilla—at its base. Indeed, it is formed in the embryo by just such as interaction between its constituents, the epidermis growing inward as a peg that ultimately invests a small group of dermal cells.

The epidermal components of an active hair follicle consist of an outer layer of polyhedral cells, forming the outer root sheath, and an inner horny stratum, the inner root sheath. This inner sheath is composed of three layers, known respectively as Henle’s layer (the outermost), consisting of horny, fibrous, oblong cells; Huxley’s layer, with polyhedral, nucleated cells containing pigment granules; and the cuticle of the root sheath, having a layer of downwardly imbricate scales (overlapping like roof tiles) that fit over the upwardly imbricate scales of the hair proper. The outer root sheath is surrounded by connective tissue. This consists internally of a vascular layer separated from the root sheath by a basement membrane—the hyaline layer of the follicle. Externally, the tissue has a more open texture corresponding to the deeper part of the dermis that contains the larger branches of the arteries and veins.

A small muscle, the arrector pili, is attached to each hair follicle, with the exception of the small follicles that produce only fine vellus hairs. If this muscle contracts, the hair becomes more erect and the follicle is dragged upward. This creates a protuberance on the skin surface, producing the temporarily roughened condition that is popularly called gooseflesh.

The hair shaft is composed chiefly of a pigmented, horny, fibrous material, which consists of long, tapering fibrillar cells that have become closely impacted. Externally, this so-called cortex is covered by a delicate layer of imbricated scales forming the cuticle. In many hairs the centre of the shaft is occupied by a medulla, which frequently contains minute air bubbles, giving it a dark appearance. The medullary cells tend to be grouped along the central axis of the hair as a core, continuous or interrupted, of single, double, or multiple columns.

The cuticular scales of mammalian hairs are predominantly of the overlapping, imbricate type, with edges that are rounded, minutely notched, or flattened. They vary in size, shape, and edge structure and are distinctive for each species. Among the higher primates, for example, those of chimpanzees are slightly oval, those of gorillas and humans have shallowly notched edges, and those of orangutans have edges that are deeply notched.

In many deer the cortical substance can hardly be distinguished; almost the entire hair appears to be composed of thin-walled polygonal cells. In the peccary the cortical envelope sends radial projections inward, the spaces between being occupied by medullary substance; and this, on a large scale, is the structure of the porcupine’s quills.

One of the most remarkable mammalian hairs is that of the Australian duckbill, or platypus, where the lower portion of the shaft is slender and woollike, while the free end terminates as a flattened, spear-shaped, pigmented hair with broad imbricate scales. In the three-toed sloth a microscopic alga grows between the cuticular scales of the hairs and appears to be symbiotic; its presence gives a curious greenish gray hue to the coat of the sloth and helps to disguise the animal among the trees.

The activity of hair follicles is cyclic. After an active period (known as anagen), the follicle passes through a short transition phase (catagen) to enter a resting phase (telogen). In this process, cell division ceases, and the dermal papilla is released from the epidermal matrix, which becomes reduced to a small, inactive, secondary germ. The base of the hair expands and becomes keratinized to form a “club,” which is held in the follicle until the next cycle begins. A new period of anagen starts with cell proliferation of the secondary germ, which then extends inward to reinvest the dermal papilla. After the new hair is formed, the old club hair is shed, or molted. The events of early anagen are, in effect, a reenactment of the early development of the hair follicle.

The final length of any hair depends mainly on the duration of anagen and varies between body sites and from animal to animal. Hairs on the back of a rat take three weeks to grow fully, whereas the follicles on the human scalp may be continuously active for three years or more.

The cyclic activity of hair follicles is the mechanism by which mammals molt; it thus enables animals to alter their coats as they grow or as they adjust to changing temperature-control or camouflage requirements. In some mammals molting takes place in a pattern, so that the follicles act in synchrony in a particular area of the body. In the human scalp the follicles are out of step with each other, and there is continuous loss of club hairs.

Glands

The skin glands of mammals are of three major types. Associated with hair follicles are oil-secreting sebaceous glands as well as tubular glands, which produce an aqueous secretion. Sebaceous glands are termed holocrine because their secretion involves complete disintegration of their cells, which are constantly replaced. Tubular, or merocrine, glands extrude their secretion into a central lumen. The tubular glands of the hair follicle are usually classified as apocrine because it is believed that, in some glands at least, secretion involves a breaking off of part of the gland cells. A second type of merocrine gland, not associated with hair follicles, is termed eccrine because the cells remain intact during secretion. Eccrine glands occur in hairy skin only in humans and some primates; but the footpad glands, which increase friction and thus prevent slipping in many mammalian species, are of a similar type.

A major function of skin glands is the production of odours for sexual or social communication. Many species in all but a few mammalian orders have specialized aggregations of glandular units for this purpose. These occur in almost every area of the body. Some, like the chin and anal glands of the rabbit, contain only tubular units; others, like the abdominal gland of the gerbil, are purely sebaceous; still others, like the side glands of shrews, contain batteries of both holocrine and tubular units.

In some large mammals an important function of merocrine glands is temperature control. Horses and cattle, for example, have apocrine glands for this purpose, but the superbly effective cooling system of humans is served by eccrine sweat glands.