● Skin: the largest single organ of the body

Composed of:
1. Epidermis > an epithelial layer of ectodermal origin
2. Dermis > a layer of mesodermal connective tissue
➔ Functions of the skin
Protective - unbroken skin / Sensory - tactile sensations /Thermoregulatory - sweat /
Metabolic - synthesize vit. D3 / Sexual signaling - pheromones

● Epidermis: consist mainly of a stratified squamous keratinized epithelium composed of cell

called keratinocytes
➔ Cells:
● Keratinocytes - the most prominent cell within the epidermis.-
● Langerhan cells - act as the outermost guard of the cutaneous immune system
● Melanocytes - production of melanin
● Merkel cells - specialized cells in the skin that are important for proper neural
encoding of light touch stimuli

● Thick skin - Palms and Soles

● Thin skin - elsewhere on the body
➔ Stratum basale - a single layer of basophilic cuboidal or columnar cells, characterized by
intense mitotic activity and contains progenitor cells for all epidermal layers, important
feature>>cytoskeletal keratins
➔ Stratum spinosum - thickest layer, especially in the epidermal ridges, synthesis of much
keratin and other proteins takes place, characteristically exhibit spinous processes,
Prickle cells ( 8-10 cell layers, also known as the prickle cell layer contains irregular,
polyhedral cells with cytoplasmic processes, sometimes called “spines”, that extend
outward and contact neighboring cells by desmosomes).
➔ Stratum granulosum (granular layer) - Keratinocytes in this layer contain numerous
❖ Keratohyalin granules ( cross-linking of keratin filaments which creates the tight
barrier that is the epidermis, providing the body with an impermeable layer that
protects from invasion by foreign particles).
❖ Lamellar granules ( specialized epidermal organelles containing stacks of
membranous discs that are extruded into the intercellular spaces in the upper
portion of the granular layer).
➔ Stratum lucidum - consist of a thin, translucent layer of flattened eosinophilic
keratinocytes held together by desmosomes, considered a subdivision of the stratum
corneum, only well seen in thick skin.
➔ Stratum corneum - most differentiated cells in the skin, layers of squamous, keratinized
cells filled with birefringent filamentous keratins, squames: A flake of dead skin tissue.

Keratinocytes - predominant cell type of the epidermis

Melanocytes - neural crest-derived, a dendritic cell that is scattered throughout the basal cells of the
stratum basale, produce and distribute melanin into keratinocytes.
➔ Melanosomes - Tyrosine > DOPA (a large neutral amino acid (LNAA) that is the precursor for
catecholamines: dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine) > Melanin
➔ Langerhans - dendritic appearing, antigen presenting cells in the epidermis, possess
characteristic, tennis racket-shaped Birbeck granules, most clearly seen in the spinous layer.
➔ Merkel cells - epithelial tactile cells. Functions in the cutaneous sensation, abundant in highly
sensitive skin like that of fingertips and at the base of some hair follicles, located in the stratum
basale

● Dermis - layer of connective tissue that supports the epidermis and binds it to the subcutaneous
tissue ( hypodermis)
❖ Subpapillary plexus layers:
➔ Papillary layer - thin layer, includes the dermal papillae, consist of the loose
connective tissue, types I & III collagen fibers, fibroblast and scattered mast
cells, macrophages, and other leukocytes
➔ Reticular layer - much thicker, consist of dense irregular connective tissue,
more fibers and fewer cells than the papillary layer. A network of elastic fibers is
also present

● Subcutaneous Tissue
❖ Hypodermis or superficial fascia - consist of loose connective tissue that binds the skin
loosely to the subjacent organs, making it possible for the skin to slide over them,
contains adipocytes, and has extensive vascular supply.

● Sensory Receptors
❖ Unencapsulated
➔ Merkel cell - tonic receptors for sustained light touch and for sensing an object’s
texture
➔ Free nerve endings - most numerous neuronal receptors in the epidermis,
terminate in the stratum granulosum, responds 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 that detects movements of the hairs
❖ Encapsulated
➔ Meissner corpuscles - elliptical structures, consisting of sensory axons winding
among flattened Schwann cells arranged perpendicular to the epidermis in the
dermal papillae. Touch receptors - responsive to low frequency stimuli in the
papillary layers of hairless skin
➔ Lamellated (pacinian) corpuscles - large oval structures with an outer capsule
& 15-50 thin, concentric lamellae of flattened Schwann cells and collagen
surrounding a highly branched unmyelinated axon, found deep in the reticular
dermis and hypodermis, wall of the rectum and urinary bladder, specialized for
sensing coarse touch, pressure, and vibrations
➔ Krause end bulbs - also known as Ruffini endings, are specialized nerve
endings found in the skin and other parts of the body that respond to mechanical
 stimuli such as pressure, stretching, or twisting. They are sensitive to changes in
skin tension and are used to detect changes in the skin's surface. Found
primarily in the skin of the penis and clitoris where they sense low frequency
vibrations
➔ Ruffini corpuscles - primarily sense skin stretching, movement, and finger
position. Pacinian corpuscles sense vibrations and detect fine textures. Respond
to stretch and torque

➢ Epidermal Derivatives of the skin

● Hair – elongated keratinized structures that form within epidermal invaginations, the
hair follicles. Growing hair follicle has a terminal dilation.
● Hair bulb – base of the bulb is invaginated by a tuft of vascularized loose connective
tissue, dermal papilla. These cells form the matrix of the elongating hair root – the part
of a hair extending beyond the skin surface hair shaft
● Nail – hard plates of keratin on the dorsal surface of each distal phalanx.
● Sebaceous glands – embedded in the dermis over most of the body, except in the skin
of the palms and soles. Branched acinar glands with several acini converging at a
short duct that usually empties into the upper portion of a hair follicle. A hair follicle and
its associated sebaceous glands make up a pilosebaceous unit.
○ Holocrine secretion – sebocytes & sebum

● Eccrine sweat glands – widely distributed in the skin and are most numerous on the
foot soles, secretory part is stratified cuboidal epithelium
○ Sweating – a physiological response to increased body temperature during physical
exercise or thermal stress, most effective means of temperature regulation of humans

● Apocrine sweat glands – largely confined to skin of the axillary and perianal region,
production of pheromones. Merocrine secretion
● Wound healing
○ Granulation tissue – collagen-rich, well vascularized tissue in the
dermis, which gradually replaces the blood clot, undergoes remodeling.

➢ Heart: pumps and directs blood cells and substances carried in blood to all tissues of the body
○ Composed of:
➔ Endocardium consist of a very thin inner layer of endothelium and supporting
connective tissues, a middle myoelastic layer of smooth muscle fibers and
connective tissue
➔ Myocardium consists mainly of cardiac muscle with fibers arranged spirally
around each heart chamber. Thicker in the walls of the ventricles, particularly the
left, than in the atrial walls
➔ Epicardium a simple squamous mesothelium supported by a layer of loose
connective tissue containing blood vessels and nerves, corresponds to the
visceral layer of the pericardium
● Cardiac skeleton - dense irregular fibrous connective tissue, forms part of the interventricular
and interatrial septa, surrounds all valves of the heart, and extends into the valve cusps and the
chordae tendineae to which they are attached
● Conducting system of the heart - generates and propagates waves of depolarization that
spread throughout the myocardial tissue to stimulate the rhythmic contractions.
❖ Sinoatrial (SA) node (or pacemaker) and the atrioventricular (AV) node → AV bundle →
subendocardial conducting network.

● Heart valves composed of connective tissue with overlapping endocardium

❖ Composed of 3 layers:
❖ Fibrosa core of the valve and contains fibrous extensions from the dense irregular
connective tissue of the skeletal rings of the heart
❖ Spongiosa loose connective tissue located on the atrial or blood vessel side of each
valve
❖ Ventricularis adjacent to the ventricular or atrial surface of each valve and is covered
with endothelium.

● Tissues & Layers of Vascular Wall

❖ Tunica Intima the innermost layer of the vessel
➔ Endothelium a single layer of squamous epithelial cells; specialized epithelium
that acts as a semipermeable barrier between two internal compartments: the
blood plasma and interstitial tissue fluid. Vascular endothelial cells are
squamous, polygonal, & elongated with the long axis in the direction of blood
flow.
◆ Smooth muscle
◆ Connective muscle
➔ Basal lamina of the endothelial cells (a thin extracellular layer composed chiefly
of collagen, proteoglycans, and glycoproteins)
➔ Subendothelial layer loose connective tissue
❖ Tunica media consisting of primarily circumferentially arranged layers of smooth muscle
cells. In arteries, the media may have a thin external elastic lamina, separating it from
the outermost tunic.
❖ Tunica adventitia composed primarily of longitudinally arranged collagenous tissue
(type I) and a few elastic fibers, contains the vasa vasorum and nervi vascularis

● Vasculature
❖ Elastic arteries the aorta, the pulmonary artery, and their largest branches called
conducting arteries because their major role is to carry blood to smaller arteries, most
prominent feature the thick media in which elastic lamellae alternate with layers of
smooth muscle fibers
❖ Muscular arteries distribute blood to the organs and help regulate blood pressure by
contracting or relaxing the smooth muscle in the media, intima has a very thin
subendothelial layer and a prominent internal elastic lamina
❖ Arterioles smallest arteries branch, only one or two smooth muscle layers, indicate the
beginning of an organ’s microvasculature, flow regulators for the capillary beds, slight
thickening of the smooth muscle at the origin of a capillary bed an arteriole is called the
Precapillary sphincter.
❖ Capillaries form blood vascular networks that allow fluids containing gasses,
metabolites, and waste products to move through their thin walls. Each consists of a
single layer of endothelial cells and their basal lamina, always functioning in groups
called capillary beds.
❖ Continuous capillaries – distinct continuity of the endothelial in its wall.
➢ Most common type of capillary – found in all kinds of muscle tissue, connective
tissue, exocrine glands, & nervous tissue.
❖ Fenestrated capillaries – characterized by the presence of small circular fenestrae
through the very thin squamous epithelium cells. Each fenestra is usually covered by a
very thin layer of diaphragm like for example: the kidney, the intestine, the choroid plexus
and the endocrine glands.
❖ Sinusoidal capillaries – endothelial cells have large fenestrae without diaphragms; the
cells form a discontinuous layer and are separated from one another by wide spaces; the
basal lamina is also discontinuous.
■ Irregularly shaped
■ Liver, spleen, some endocrine glands and bone marrow

❖ Post capillary venules – collect blood from the capillary network, characterized by the
presence of pericytes.
■ Pericytes – cells of mesenchymal origin with long cytoplasmic processes partly
surrounding the endothelial cell layer; provide vascular support and promote
stability of capillaries and postcapillary venules

❖ Medium veins – diameter is 10mm, valves are a characteristic feature of these vessels,
most numerous in the inferior portion of the body, particularly the lower limb.
❖ Large veins – diameter greater than 10mm, examples are: Tunica adventitia of large
veins (subclavian veins, portal vein, and the venae cavae) is the thickest layer of the
vessel wall. Tunica adventitia also contains longitudinal disposed smooth muscle cells.
❖ Arteriovenous shunts – direct routes between the arteries and veins that divert blood
from the capillaries, found in the skin of the fingertips, nose, and lips and in the erectile
tissue of the penis and clitoris. Often coiled, has a relatively thick smooth muscle layer, is
enclosed in a connective tissue capsule, and is richly innervated.
❖ Coronary arteries – considered to be medium-sized arteries, originate from the
proximal part of the ascending aorta and lie on the surface of the heart in the epicardium
surrounded by adipose tissue.
❖ Dural venous sinuses – venous channels in the cranial cavity; broad spaces within the
dura mater that are lined with endothelial cells and devoid of smooth muscles.
❖ Great saphenous vein – a long subcutaneous vein of the lower limb that originates in
the foot drains into the femoral vein just below the inguinal ligament. Possesses
 numerous longitudinal smooth muscle bundles in the lamina and in the well developed
adventitia.
❖ Central adrenomedullary vein – passes through the adrenal medulla and its tributaries
have an unusual tunica media, contains several longitudinally oriented bundles of
smooth muscle cells that vary in size and appearance (Muscle cushions)

● Lymphatic vessels – resembles that of veins except with thinner walls and no distinct
separation among tunics.

○ Lymph – excess interstitial fluid

○ Lymphatic capillaries – originate as closed-ended vessels consisting of a single layer
of very thin endothelial cells on an incomplete basal lamina.