96336 - Skin and Skin Annexes Anatomy and Physiology

Learning outcomes

After attending this course and passing the final exam, the student knows cytology, histology, anatomy and physiology of the skin and skin annexes, and the morphological and functional changes associated with the aging processes.

Course contents

Introduction to Histology:

Epithelial tissue: organization. Protective and secretive epithelia.

The integumentary system: general features

Skin

Epidermis

- keratinocytes, melanocytes, Langerhans cells

- layers of epidermis

- cell junctions

- Keratinization and growth of the epidermis

Dermis

- cells

- extracellular matrix components

Hypodermis

Specific functions of the skin layers (epidermis, dermis and hypodermis).

Protective functions: mechanical, physical (against radiations, temperature, electricity), chemical and biological (including immune) protection.

Permeability and prevention of dehydration.

Vitamin D synthesis.

Skin annexes

Hair follicles

Fingernails

Sebaceous glands

Sweat glands

Specific functions of skin annexes (hair, nails, sweat glands and sebaceous glands).

Morphological changes of the skin connected with aging.

Cutaneous sensitivity

Sensory receptors of the skin: free nervous endings, Meissner corpuscles, Ruffini corpuscles, Pacini corpuscles, Merkel cells.

Sensory functions: physiology of sensory receptors for touch, proprioception, thermoception, pain (somatosensory system), adequate stimuli, mechanisms of signal transduction, genesis and propagation of bioelectrical signals, ascending neural pathways, cortical representation and elaboration.

Special senses

Location, structure and function of the olfactory epithelium, physiology of sensory receptors for smell (olfactory system).

Oral cavity and taste receptors, physiology of sensor receptors for taste (gustatory system).

Autonomic nervous system

Regulation of activity, efferent pathways, sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions, neurotransmitters and receptors.

Thermoregulatory functions

Vascularization of the skin, autonomic regulation, mechanisms of thermogenesis and thermodispersion.

Readings/Bibliography

Anatomy & Physiology, J. Gordon Betts et al., OpenStax, Rice University (Houston, Texas, U.S.A.), 2017.

Articles and other materials provided in the classroom.

Teaching methods

Lectures are conducted in a classroom using Power Point presentations.

Students with learning disorders and\or temporary or permanent disabilities: please, contact the office responsible (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students) as soon as possible so that they can propose acceptable adjustments. The request for adaptation must be submitted in advance (15 days before the exam date) to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of the adjustments, taking into account the teaching objectives.

Assessment methods

Oral exam aimed at evaluating the knowledge of the course contents.

The final vote of the integrated course will be the arithmetic average of the marks obtained in the two modules of the course (“Skin and Skin Annexes Anatomy and Physiology” and “Skin and Skin Annexes Diseases”).

Teaching tools

Power Point presentations, Virtuale 

Office hours

See the website of Fiorenza Stagni