📍Activity 4: The Integumentary System 🔬

🫧Human Hair
The primary function of human hair is to insulate the human body. Hair does this in two ways: it serves as a physical barrier between external cold air and the skin, and it also traps warm air in between the skin and the hair, keeping the body warmer. Hair protects skin from external factors, such as sun damage and chapped skin from wind damage.

🫧Human Palmar Skin
Similar to fingerprints, the patterns that appear on the integument of the palms, generally referred to as palmar skin, are unique and may be used as a means of identification. The practical purpose of the tiny wrinkles and folds along the palms, however, is to facilitate gripping and to enhance tactile sensitivity.

🫧Human Brown Skin
Melanin’s primary role is to protect the skin from damaging UV light from the sun, which can cause skin cancer. When skin is exposed to UV light, melanocytes start producing melanin, creating a suntan. People who have more pheomelanin will have paler skin. People who have more eumelanin will have darker skin.

🫧Pig Skin
The porcine skin has striking similarities to human skin in terms of general structure, thickness, hair follicle content, pigmentation, collagen, and lipid composition. This has been the basis for numerous studies using the pig as a model for wound healing, transdermal delivery, dermal toxicology, radiation, and UVB effects.