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Piezoelectric Properties Dry Human Skin
Piezoelectric Properties Dry Human Skin
D. De Rossi, C. Domenici
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
Different biological tissues show the ability to con- skin samples both in vitro and in vivo, reaching the
vert mechanical and thermal stimuli into electric sig- conclusion that the observed electrical signals ob-
nals [1]. Extensive studies are available [2], exam- tained in response to mechanical or thermal stimuli are
ining mechanoelectrical properties of bone both in the intrinsically of piezo- and pyroelectric nature. The
dry and in the moist, physiological state. same authors reported measurements performed on dry
skin observing a reduced (20 to 60% less) mechanoelec-
The hypothesis ascribing bone mechanoelectric trans- trical activity compared to moist samples.
duction to piezoelectric properties of the collagenous
structure in the dry state and to electrokinetic phe- It is worthwhile noting that, while Shamos and Lavine
nomena (streaming potentials) in the moist state nowa- ascribe the piezoelectric properties of human skin to
days has a large consensus [3]. The eventual role of dermal collagen network, Athenstaedt et al. suggest
these phenomena on bone regrowth and healing is pre- that these properties originate-from uniaxially orien-
sently largely debated. However, the mechanoelectrical ted polar keratin filaments in the basal cells layer of
properties of human skin have been very little studied epidermis. To clarify the nature of mechanoelectrical
and their origin is largely unknown. transduction phenomena in human skin and to comprehend
better their microscopic origin, a systematic study of
Shamos and Lavine [41 have reported observations of these properties both in the dry and moist state has
direct piezoelectric effects in dry, whole human skin been undertaken. We report here results obtained on
samples from the forearm and callus from the sole. dry human skin samples.
These authors, by analogy with the behavior of bone
and tendons, ascribe the piezoelectric properties of
human skin to oriented collagen fibrils in dermis. SAMPLE PREPARATION
Athenstaedt et al. [5] have examined fresh human Several samples of human skin from breast, thigh, pre-
puce, and callus from sole have been obtained from pa- have been performed by applying square wave stress
tients undergoing plastic surgery. Prepuce samples pulses generated by a flat circular plastic pin, driven
were used because they are almost entirely composed of by an electromagnetic shaker. Load readings have been
true epidermal tissue (the horny layer is virtually performed by means of a miniature load cell (Type 9201,
absent). Kistler Instrumente AG, Winterthur, Switzerland) me-
chanically in series with the sample, while charge gen-
The samples were rinsed in distilled water, cut into erated by skin samples were detected by means of a
circular shape (2 cm diameter) and separated into their charge amplifier (Type 5007, Kistler Instrumente AG,
dermal, epidermal and horny layer components by micro- Winterthur, Switzerland). Two different methods have
surgical operations. The samples were dehydrated in been used to determine the eventual pyroelectricity of
vacuum for 12 h. skin samples. The first method, also called the static
method [9], is the only one capable of giving absolute
Typical dehydrated sample thickness was 300 to 400 values of the pyroelectric coefficient. The measure-
vim for whole epidermis, 100 to 200 vm for horny layer ments have been implemented using a Thermo Controller
and 300 to 500 vm for dermis. Electrodes made of con- Unit (Toyo Seiki, Seisaku-sho, Tokyo, Japan) where the
ducting silver-loaded paint (Acheson Colloiden B.V., temperature has been raised at a rate of 2°C per minute.
Scheemda, Holland) were applied by brushing on the sur-
faces of the samples used in piezoelectric measurements. The voltage appearing at the electrodes was measured
Colloidal graphite electrodes were sprayed on the sam- with a very high input impedance (1015 Q) voltmeter
ples used in thermal pulse experiments. After appli- built around a FET-input electrometer operational am-
cation of the electrodes the samples were again vacuum plifier (AD 515 J, Analog Devices, Norwood, MA, USA).
dried for two hours.
This method, however, is known to be effected by er-
rors related to voltages not of pyroelectric origin
EXPERIMENTAL METHODS which are spontaneously generated by the sample and by
voltages generated by any piezoelectric material when it
is nonuniformly heated (tertiary pyroelectric effect).
Dry skin is an anisotropic material which contains To provide an alternative measuring techniques, the
oriented polar crystallites in an amorphous organic rectangular pulse heating method [9] has been used,
matter, and its piezoelectric characterization would in although this method is capable of providing only rela-
principle require determination of 18 components of the tive values of the pyroelectric coefficient.
piezoelectric coefficient third-rank tensor d.. (the
reduced matrix notation [6] has been used in iie pre- A sharply focused 50 W incandescent lamp was used as
sent work). di are the proportionality constants be- light source and light pulses of 1 s duration were de-
tween the applied mechanical stress T and the generated livered to the skin samples to change the temperature.
electrical polarization P: However, both the static method and the classical
rectangular pulse heating method are only capable of
6 providing pyroelectric informations integrated over the
i i i (l sample thickness.
=1 _j
To probe the spatial distribution of polarization
When studying piezoelectric properties of biopolymers across the thickness of the epidermis sample, as re-
it is customary [7] to define a cartesian coordinate quired to evaluate the hypotesis of a pyroelectric acti-
system where the z-3 axis coincides with the assumed vity in the basal cell layer tonofibrils, the Collins'
prevailing orientation of electric dipoles, which for thermal pulse method [10] has been used.
a-helical proteins, is colinear with the helix long
axis. The x_1 axis is assumed to be perpendicular to A very short (1 ms) duration light pulse, generated by
to the skin surface. an electronic flash lamp, was delivered to the sample
located in a shielded, hermetic cell through a glass
Following these definitions, d14 represents the window; voltage at the electrodes was amplified with the
shear piezoelectric coefficient obtained by measuring Ad 515 J operational amplifier and recorded by means of
the electrical charges on electrodes deposited on skin a 7912AD Tektronix transient recorder.
surfaces, generated by applying an uniaxial mechanical
stress in the skin plane directed 450 from the prefer- The physical basis of this method resides in produc-
ential orientation of piezoelectric protein fibers. ing, by means of thermal diffusion, a transient inhomo-
geneous strain across the sample, in order to measure
Because skin shows relaxational dispersion [8], the its inho-moc,neous pyroelectric res-ponsc. Altlhough the
d coefficients are in fact complex quantities having information about the polarization distribution is con-
an in-phase d' real part and an out-of phase d " complex voluted with a time-dependent temperature distribution,
part. A frequency dependence of the piezoelectric co- a deconvolution process is typically applied to the ex-
efficients in this case has to be expected. perimental data to obtain the first few Fourier coef-
ficients of the polarization distribution [11]. For
Angular dependence in the plane of the samples (der- the purpose of the present work, however, we were only
mis, true epidermis and horny layer) of d' and of the interested to detect a limiting case of spatial distri-
real part of the elastic modulus c' have been measured bution of polarization inside epidermis where the pyro-
at 25°C and at the frequencies of 1, 10, and 30 Hz using electric response may be eventually concentrated only
a Rheolograph Piezo (Toyo Seiki Seisaku-sho, Tokyo, at one very superficial layer of the sample.
Japan). The dependence of real d' and imaginary part
d" of shear piezoelectric coefficient on temperature In this simple case, qualitative inspection of the
from -100°C to 1000C at 10 Hz have also been measured, volatage-time responses obtained by alternating the side
using the same apparatus. of the sample in respect to the impinging light is suf-
ficient to determine eventual strong asymmetry in the
Thickness-compression piezoelectric measurements pyroelectricity spatial distribution [11].
De Rossi et al.: Piezoelectric properties of dry human skin 513
where dC'4
is the shear piezoelectric coefficient for Horny Layer
the single crystallite, b the volume fraction of the
paracrystalline piezoelecYric component (collagen) in The characteristic features of piezoelectric response
the sample, Fc the degree of orientation of collagen of the horny layer have been found to be very similar
to those of true epidermis. However, d'(max) of the
fibers, and 0c the angle of average direction of colla-
gen crystallites orientation.
horny layer has been found to be of the order of 0.1
5;14 IEEE Transactions on Electrical Insulation Vol. EI-21 No.3, June 1986
E
_- 4 z
i
0.5
13
o
2
z
-0.5
- - - Rhinoceros horn
14 _ - Skin horny layer
o\ \ - - True epidermis
1
0
E
10
'N
d =
O O d1 5 -d1 4 ° (5)
-1L d31 d31 d33 0 0