SarahChamberlain

IntegumentarySystemsLabReport

Theskinhasmanydifferentfunctions.Thislabreportwillbefocusingmainlyonsweatgland
density,thermoregulation,andsensoryfunctionoftheintegumentarysystems.First,wewill
discusssweatglanddensity.Transepidermalwaterloss(TWL,TWEL,orsimplysweating)was
firstrecognizedbytheGreeks,howevertheEmpedocles(495435BCE)wereawareof
sweating2000yearsbeforesweatglandswouldbediscovered.In1614,anItalianphysiologist,
SantorioSanctorius,quantifiedchangesinbodymass.Hesaidthesechangesoccurredby
osmoticdiffusion.Healsosaidthatsweatglandsbecameactiveduringthermal,psychogenic,or
exercisestresses.Allofthesedifferentstressescausedifferentamountsofwaterlossseparately
and/orindependently.MarcelloMalpighi,anotherItalianphysiologist,wasthoughttohave
discoveredthelocationoftheeccrinesweatglands.AnEnglishmicroscopistin1684,Nehemiah
Grew,recognizedthedifferenceofsweatamountsbetweenaglabrous(nothairysmooth)and
nonglabrous(hairy)surface.In1833,JohannesPurkinje,aCzechPhysiologist,discoveredthe
sweatglandsthemselves.AFrenchhistorian,LouisAntoineRanvier,dividedtheglandsintotwo
differentclasses:holocrine(sebaceousandmeibomian)andmerocrine(Sweat).20to30years
later,theglandsweredividedinto2majorclasses:Apocrine,Opoecrine,andEccrine(theones
wearediscussinghere).TheEccrinesweatglandsarefound3millimetersundertheskin.They
begindevelopingat1213weeksfromconceptioninthestratumgerminativum.Theyare
completelydevelopedafter22weeksandporesarevisiblebeyond32weeks.First,theysink
downintothedermisandthentheyrisebackup,intheshapeofahelic,intotheepidermis.

Figure1Skinlayerdiagram


Thermoregulation

Homeostasis,whichistheabilitytomaintaininternalconditionswithinthenarrowlimitsthatare
optimalforthecontinuationofmetabolicprocesses,isresponsibleforbodytemperature,pH,
hydrationandotherbodylevels.However,inthisexperimentwefocusedonbodytemperature.
Regularbodytemperatureis37(98.7),andwhenthistemperatureisdisturbedinanypartof
thebody,homeostasisbegins.Byallowingordivertingthebloodsaccesstotheskin,thedermal
tissuescaneasilyinfluencebodytemperature.Smallarteriolesinthedermisconstrictwhenan
areaofskinisexposedtothecold.Thisallowslessthanthenormalamountofbloodflowtothat
areainordertoprotectthecorebodytemperature.Whenthecoldisremoved,bloodflowreturns
tonormalandthearteriolesdilate.Whentheskinisexposedtoheat,theoppositehappens.The
bloodvesselsdilate,allowheattodissipatefromtheskin,andtheskinappearsflushed,orred.
Moreexamplesofhomeostasisatworkincludethedilationseenwithembarrassment(redness)
andtheconstrictionseenwithfear(paleness).

Hypothesis:IfIcountthesweatglandsofthepalmofthehand,thedorsalofthehand,the
ventraloftheforearm,andthedorsaloftheforearmandIreducethetemperatureoftheskinat
eachpart,thenthepalmofthehandwillhavemoresweatglandsandwillregainnormal
temperaturethequickestbecausethepalmofthehandisusedmoreandneedsthermoregulation
themost.

Table1SweatGlandcountatvariouspartsofthebody


Table2Recoverytimeofskintemperature

Conclusion:Thedatadidsupportmyhypothesisbyshowingthatthepalmofthehandhasthe
mostsweatglandsandthatthepalmofthehandregaineditsstartingtemperaturefasterthanthe
forearm.

SensoryFunction

Asensoryfunctionlabtestwasdoneonvariouspartsofthebodyontheleftside.Graphedbelow
arethethreehighestandlowestextremes.


Table3Twopointdiscriminationtestresultsonvariouspartsofthebody(leftside)

Thetipofthethumb,indexfinger,andthird(middle)fingerhadthemostsensoryfunction.The
brainfocusesmainlyonthefingersandtoes.Thepalmofthehand,theupperbackandthe
shoulder,however,hadtheleastsensoryfunction.

Image2Asensorymapbasedonmyownbody.

Sources:

1) Taylor,N.A.,&MachadoMoreira,C.A.(2013).Regionalvariationsintransepidermal
waterloss,eccrinesweatglanddensity,sweatsecretionratesandelectrolytecomposition
inrestingandexercisinghumans.
ExtremePhysiology&Medicine
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2
,4.
http://doi.org/10.1186/2046764824

2) http://www.maxplanckflorida.org/fitzpatricklab/homunculus/cms/mapper.php?model=mo
del_1b

3) Gordon,D.,&Gordon,S.L.(2015).
HumanPhysiologywithVernier.