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Skin is the layer of usually soft, flexible outer tissue covering the body of a vertebrate animal, with three main functions: protection, regulation, and sensation. Other animal coverings , such as the arthropod exoskeleton , have different developmental origin , structure and chemical composition .
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. Mainly it is the body's outer skin.
The epidermis is the outermost of the three layers that comprise the skin, the inner layers being the dermis and hypodermis. [1] The epidermal layer provides a barrier to infection from environmental pathogens [2] and regulates the amount of water released from the body into the atmosphere through transepidermal water loss.
Squamous cells have the appearance of thin, flat plates that can look polygonal when viewed from above. [5] Their name comes from squāma, Latin for "scale" – as on fish or snake skin. The cells fit closely together in tissues, providing a smooth, low-friction surface over which fluids can move easily.
The cells of the body's surface form the outer layer of skin. Inside the body, epithelial cells form the lining of the mouth and alimentary canal and protect these organs. Epithelial tissues help in the elimination of waste. Epithelial tissues secrete enzymes and/or hormones in the form of glands. Some epithelial tissue perform secretory functions.
In mammals, major cell types include skin cells, muscle cells, neurons, blood cells, fibroblasts, stem cells, and others. Cell types differ both in appearance and function, yet are genetically identical. Cells are able to be of the same genotype but of different cell type due to the differential expression of the genes they contain.
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In mammals, somatic cells make up all the internal organs, skin, bones, blood and connective tissue, while mammalian germ cells give rise to spermatozoa and ova which fuse during fertilization to produce a cell called a zygote, which divides and differentiates into the cells of an embryo. There are approximately 220 types of somatic cell in the ...