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The integumentary system is the set of organs forming the outermost layer of an animal's body. It comprises the skin and its appendages, which act as a physical barrier between the external environment and the internal environment that it serves to protect and maintain the body of the animal.
The term is derived from integumentum, which is Latin for "a covering". In a transferred, or figurative sense, it could mean a cloak or a disguise. [2] In English, "integument" is a fairly modern word, its origin having been traced back to the early seventeenth century; and refers to a material or layer with which anything is enclosed, clothed, or covered in the sense of "clad" or "coated", as ...
Anatomy (from Ancient Greek ἀνατομή (anatomḗ) 'dissection') is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. [1]
This spindle-shaped receptor is sensitive to skin stretch, and contributes to the kinesthetic sense of and control of finger position and movement. [3] They are at the highest density around the fingernails where they act in monitoring slippage of objects along the surface of the skin, allowing modulation of grip on an object.
Anatomical barriers include physical, chemical and biological barriers. The epithelial surfaces form a physical barrier that is impermeable to most infectious agents, acting as the first line of defense against invading organisms. [3]
In anatomy the term reticuloendothelial system (abbreviated RES), often associated nowadays with the mononuclear phagocyte system (MPS), was employed by the beginning of the 20th century to denote a system of specialised cells that effectively clear colloidal vital stains (so called because they stain living cells) from the blood circulation.