EM 084 Thin Skin

Links: Click to navigate to a specific region
Images: Click to show this view
Toolbar: Use controls to adjust magnification and pan the image

Thin Skin

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of the outermost layer of the skin, the epidermis.

Four layers (or strata) can be distinguished in the epidermis of thin skin:

(stratum germinativum; green) single layer of cuboidal to columnar cells resting on the basal lamina
- Dividing cells may be present
(purple) - two to three layers of cells interconnected by "spinous" processes
- Firmly attached to each other by many desmosomes
(yellow) - thin layer of cells with keratohyalin granules
- Keratohyalin Granules - contain proteins that tightly bind keratin filaments together
- Lamellar bodies (or keratinosomes) - secreted to form an impermeable, lipid-containing coating membrane that serves as a water barrier
(orange) - outermost layer of flattened, dead cells devoid of nuclei or organelles.
- Cytoplasm is filled with bundles of mature keratin fibers
- Protects the epithelium from abrasion, dehydration, and infection

The thickness of the stratum corneum is less than the height of the other cellular layers in thin skin.

Courtesy of Karen Holbrook, Department of Biological Structure, University of Washington Medical School, Seattle, WA.