Comparative Anatomy
Integument
Integument
• Epidermis derived from ectoderm
• Gives rise to glands
• Dermis derived from mesoderm
There are five distinct sub-layers of the Epidermis:
1. Stratum corneum: the outermost layer,
made of 25-30 layers of dead flat
keratinocytes. It provides water repellent
action and are continuously shed & replaced.
2. Stratum lucidum: Only found in the
fingertips, palms of hands, & soles of feet.
This layer is made up of 3-5 layers of flat
dead keratinocytes. It is a smooth and
seemingly translucent layer
3. Stratum granulosum: made up of 3-5
layers of keratinocytes, site of keratin
formation. Keratohyalin gives the granular
appearance and help to bind keratin
filaments.
4. Stratum spinosum: appears covered in
thornlike spikes, provide strength & flexibility
to the skin.
5. Stratum basale: The deepest layer, made
up of a single layer of cuboidal or columnar
cells. Cells produced here are constantly
divide & move up to apical surface.
Dermis
• One is the papillary layer which is the superficial layer and consists of
the areolar connective tissue. It provide nutrition to epidermis.
• The other is the reticular layer which is the deep layer and consists of
the dense irregular connective tissue. It provides strength and elasticity to
the skin.
Fish Skin
• No stratum corneum
• Many unicellular glands
• Like goblet cells, secretes mucus
• Photophores (light-emitting)
• Arise in epidermis and invade in dermis
Dermal Scales
• Fish have no epidermal scales
• Scales are dermal
Dermal Scales
• Dermal bone plates became skull Ostracoderms
• Ancient armor
• Rhomboid scales
• Modern fish
• Cycloid (carps): Cycloid scales are large, thin, and round or oval in shape, and they
exhibit growth rings. These are overlapping fish scales.
• Ctenoid scales (perch): Ctenoid scales resemble cycloid scales but have comb-like
teeth on their overlapping edge.
• Placoid (sharks): which are bony, spiny projections with an enamel-like covering.
• Ganoid scales (sturgeon): Most ganoid scales are rhomboidal (diamond-shaped) and
connected by peg-and-socket joints. They are covered with a peculiar enamel-like
substance called ganoin.
Cycloid, ctenoid, placoid, and ganoid scales of modern fish.
Amphibian Skin
• Stratum corneum
• Loses dermal scales
• Exception: caecilian
• Epidermal multicellular glands abundant
Integumentary Gland Types
(a) Simple tubular, (b) Coiled tubular,
(c) Simple branched tubular, (d) Compound tubular,
(e) Alveolus of simple saccular gland, (f) Simple branched saccular,
(g) Compound alveolar
• Simple tubular
• Plethodontid mental glands associated with courtship glands
• Simple branched tubular
• Female plethodontid (salamander)- spermatotheca
• Simple coiled tubular
• Sweat glands
• Simple alveolar
• Mucous glands
• Simple branced alveolar
• Sebaceous glands in skin, as well as the mucous secreting glands in stomach
• Compound tubular
• Mammary glands of monotremes
• Compound branched alveolar
• Mammary glands of placentals
Modes of Secretion
• Merocrine
• Holocrine
• Apocrine
• Merocrine
• Cell body not injured
• Release particles by exocytosis
• Most sweat glands in mammals
• Holocrine
• Cell body discharged with contents
• Whole cell dies (a)
• Sebaceous glands
(b)
(a) merocrine and (b) holocrine glands.
• Apocrine
• Cellular products gather on surface then
pinched off
• Apical portion pinched off
• Axillary sweat glands and mammary glands
Apocrine gland.
Reptile Skin
• Few glands (dry skin)
• Thick stratum corneum with
modifications
• Epidermal scales
Desert horned lizard.
• Some reptiles have remnants of
dermal armor (osteoderms)
• Osteoderms beneath some epidermal
scales
• Alligator and skinks
• True dermal bones
• Turtles
Osteoderms (dermal plates) of alligator.
Turtles
• Shell of dermal bone
• Carapace (shell) – dorsal
• Plastron- ventral
• Mesoplastron additional bone on primitive, extinct turtles
Figure 8.20
Reptile Skin……
• Turtles have epidermal scutes- large
epidermal scales
• Snakes have scutes on belly
• Spikes and spines are epidermal
(a)
(b)
Figure 8.21: snake belly scutes (a) and white
bony plate of turtle with scutes removed.
Reptile Integumentary Glands
• Femoral pores (glands)
• Occur ventrally, waxy excretion
• Many lizards, turtles and snakes have
scent or cloacal glands
Skin of Birds
• Few epidermal scales
• Legs and beak
• Dermal scales are absent
• Claws- diversified
• Few glands
• Uropygial gland- preening gland (produces oily
secretion called promatum)
Feathers (epidermal appendages)
• Modification of reptilian scales
• following types
• Flight feathers- remiges and rectrices
• Contour feather- provides shape
• Down- beneath contour feather
• Filoplume- long shaft, lost its vane
Figure: Feather types
Skin of Mammals
• Modifications of stratum corneum
• Hair, claws, nails, hooves
• Vibrissae or Whiskers
• Specialized hairs
• Tactile in function
• Glands
• Sweat glands
• Sebaceous glands
• Meibomian glands
Figure 8.25: Vibrissae of harbor seal.
Cornified Structures
• Baleen Plate
• Toothless whale’s horny sheets of oral
ectoderm
• Not bone
• Used for filter feeding
• Tori pads
• Epidermal tactile pads
• Precision grip
Products of stratum corneum—Tori pads.
Horns
• Horns
• In Bovine family
• Outgrowth of dermal core
• Unbranched
• Covered by epidermal horny, keratinized
sheath
• Permanent
Bovine horn.
Antlers
• Antlers and horns of giraffe
• Deer
• Bone of antler attaches to skull bone
(frontal bone)
• Shed annually
• Outside layer is highly vascularized
Figure 8.28: Antler.
Figure 8.29: (a) horns and (b) antlers.
Dermal Pigments
• Chromatophores
• Contain pigment granules
• Melanophores (brown)
• Melanin granules
• Lipophores (yellow and red)
Function of Integument or Skin
• Protection
• Respiration
• Temperature Regulation
• Maintain the body form
Function of Integument or Skin………
• The skin is a barrier between the internal and external environment of an
organism. Depending on the species, it participates in multiple functions.
• The skin is the organ that holds the body together, covers and protects it, and
provides communication with its environment. It is also the body's primary line of
defense, especially for anamniotes.
• The vital mission of the integument in aquatic vertebrates is mucus secretion.
• Cornification began in amphibians, improved in reptilians, and endured in avian
and mammalian epidermis.
• The feather, the most ostentatious and functional structure of avian skin, evolved in
the Mesozoic period.
• After the extinction of the dinosaurs, birds continued to diversify, followed by the
enlargement, expansion, and diversification of mammals, which brings us to the
most complicated skin organization of mammals with differing glands, cells,
physiological pathways, and the evolution of hair.
• Throughout these radical changes, some features were preserved among classes
such as basic dermal structure, pigment cell types, basic coloration genetics, and
similar sensory features, which enable us to track the evolutionary path.