TEAS Integumentary System

What does the integumentary system contain?

Organs and glands that are vital to protecting the body and regulating temperature.

Integumentary system

An organ system comprised of skin and its associated organs

What does the integumentary system contain?

Organs and glands that are vital to protecting the body and regulating temperature.

What conforms the integumentary?

Skin, hair, and nails, as well as sebaceous, sudorifeous, and ceruminous glands.

What is found within the skin?

Hair follicles, sweat glands, and blood vessels.

How can the skin be divided?

Into the epidermis (outer layer), dermis (middle layer), and subcutaneous or hypodermis (inner layer).

What is the epidermis made up of?

Dead cells on the outside, and it has an inner layer of living cells.

What cells does the epidermis include?

Melanocytes

What can melanocytes do?

Produce and distribute melanin, which is a skin pigment.

Where is the dermis?

Beneath the epidermis

What does the dermis contain?

Collagen, blood vessels, glands, hair follicles, and nerve endings.

Subcutaneous

Under the dermis

Excretion

Elimination of metabolic waste from the body.

• Sudoriferous (sweat) glands excrete metabolic waste out of the body.

• Sweat is mostly water, but it also physically eliminates trace amounts of urea, lactic acid, and sodium chloride (salt).

Homeostasis (thermoregulation)

The maintenance of a constant internal environment.

• Vasodilation: Blood vessels in the dermis dilate (widen), forcing warm blood to the surface to radiate heat away.

• Sweating: Eccrine glands release sweat, cooling the skin surface through evaporation.

Ceruminous glands

Accessory structures that produce ear wax. They’re found only in the dermis of the ear canal.

Sebaceous glands

Accessory structures originating in the dermis that secrete sebum onto hair emerging from the hair follicle.

Hair follicles

Tubes arising from the dermis surrounded by invaginations of epithelial tissue, from which hair growth occurs.

Apocrine sweat gland

Accessory structures of the dermis that are in physical association with hair follicles, producing a secretion with an odor (possibly a sex pheromone to humans).

Eccrine sweat glands

Accessory structure originating throughout the dermis of the human body that secrete sweat, used primarily for regulation of body temperature.

What is the first function of the integumentary system?

Protection

What does the epidermis do in terms of protection?

Provides a barrier between the body and outside pathogens, such as bacteria.

What does the epidermis prevent?

It prevents the body from drying out.

What happens with the cells of the epidermis?

They divide quickly, pushing older cells toward the surface.

• These old cells die and create a tough, waterproof outer surface

What do melanocytes produce in the epidermis?

Melanin

What does melanin help protect?

The body from ultraviolet radiation from the sun

What do skin cells produce and what do they protect?

Nails that protect the tips of fingers and toes

What is another function of the integumentary system?

Excretion

What are excreted by glands?

Water, minerals, including sodium, chloride, and magnesium.

• When these minerals build up in the body, they’re excreted in higher amounts.

What can sweat contain?

Trace amounts of urea, lactic acid, and alcohol.

For what interaction does the skin allow?

The interaction between the body and the environment

What does the skin contain and what do they allow the body to do?

It contains sensory nerve endings that allow the body to detect touch, change in temperature, and pain.

Where are the nerve endings found?

In the skin’s dermis layer

What does skin produce?

Vitamin D when ultraviolet light hits the skin

What happens when the body becomes too warm?

Sweat glands produce sweat.

• the evaporation of sweat on the skin creates a cooling effect

What happens to blood vessels when the body is warm?

Blood vessels can dilate and dilated blood vessels carry more blood closer to the skin’s surface (this can appear as flushed cheeks).

• the blood is then cooled and retuned to deeper tissue at a cooler temperature

What happens if the body is too cold?

Blood vessels constrict so that less blood is carried to the skin surface.

Sweat

Perspiration excreted by sweat glands through the skin.

Vitamin D

A vitamin made by the skin that helps the intestine absorb dietary calcium.

Cutaneous vasoconstriction

A decrease in the diameter of blood vessels in the dermis that reduces blood flow through the skin.