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Function of Human Skin in Relation To Its Macromolecular Structure

Function of Human Skin in Relation To Its Macromolecular Structure Abstract MAMMALIAN life—in sea, fresh water, or air—could not exist should the outer integument—the skin—be permeable to water, inorganic ions, and gases. The removal of more than 30% of the integument from a terrestrial mammal living in dry air at a temperature lower than 28 C kills the animal by imposing such a negative evaporative thermal load upon the organism that it exceeds the organism's capacity to generate enough heat from exothermic chemical reactions to maintain body temperature. The body temperature drops and the animal dies.6 The burned human being bearing a granulating wound larger than 20% of body surface, if immersed in water, becomes ill and even dies of a combination of water gain and salt loss. Obviously such mammals as the whale and porpoise living in hypertonic seas could not exist should their skins not be impermeable to salts as well as water. Their sole water source is References 1. The killer whale excepted. 2. The water-vapor pressure of cold sea water is much lower than the water-vapor pressure in them. 3. This was measured by J. Ternberg using the electron spin resonance (ESR) technique. 4. Air effuses through alcohol-water-wet-refatted skin only after the water-alcohol solution in it has been "blown" by air under pressure ≅ 70 mm Hg. 5. This capillary pressure in the dermis could well be the force which prevents hydrostatic separation of the epidermis (blistering) of the legs during standing. Newly healed donor sites on the legs often blister during long sitting. This is especially true of donor sites that have been cropped three or four times during 48 to 60 days, making the remaining dermis very thin, and thereby reducing the dermal capillary pressure. 6. "3. Or, finally, the drop remains lying on the surface without spreading, the surface is unwettable. No surface is formed with the interfacial tension (σsf) but instead, the boundaries with the tensions σfg (surface tension of the liquid) and σsg (surface tension of the solid) are preserved. Then the free energy of the surface of the liquid against the solid must be greater than the sum of the free surface energies of the liquid and the solid again the gas, or σsf>σfg+σsg or (σsg—σ=(−) J>σfg) (J=adhesion tension)."7 7. Bridgman, Z Physik Chem 86:513, 1914. 8. Calculated using the Thomson equation (Table 6). 9. Ethyl alcohol was chosen for this experiment because the interfacial tension between ethyl alcohol and water is zero and the solubilities of one in the other are infinite. 10. Determined by weighing after wetting and after drying. 11. Upon soaking in 75 ml of distilled water for 30 minutes after the alcohol soak, a pressure of 160 mm Hg blew the skin; after the second soak in distilled water a pressure of 482 did it; and after the third soak the skin held air under a pressure of 782 mm Hg. 12. Diffusion rates cannot be calculated with any degree of certainty because of the character of the surface of the keratin. Because the air-water interface on the keratin is apparently made up of surfaces convex toward the air with radii of curvature of 5 A, the solubility of air in the water distributed over such surfaces would be much higher than it would be if the surfaces were plane. 13. Refatting was done with crude epidermal lipids after the skin was wet with water in order to render it pliable enough to place upon the receptacle. The skin was then dried in air over CaSO4 for 24 hours after partially filling the receptacle with water; the pressure in the chamber was then adjusted to atmospheric, and the observations were begun. 14. Berenson, G.S., and Burch, G.E.: Studies of Diffusion of Water Through Dead Human Skin: The Effect of Different Environmental State and of Chemical Alterations of the Epidermis , Amer J Trop Med 31:842-853, 1951. 15. Buettner, K.: Diffusion of Water and Water Vapor Through Human Skin , J Appl Physiol 6:229-242, 1953. 16. Bull, H.B.: An Introduction to Physical Biochemistry , Philadelphia: F. A. Davis Co., 1964, p 147. 17. Burch, G.E., and Winsor, T.: Rate of Insensible Perspiration (Diffusion of Water) Locally Through Living and Through Dead Human Skin , Arch Intern Med 74:437-444, 1944.Crossref 18. Buswell, A.M., and Rodebush, W.H.: Water , Sci Amer 194:77, 1956.Crossref 19. Fallon, R.H., and Moyer, C.A.: Rates of Insensible Perspiration Through Normal, Burned, Tape-Stripped, and Epidermally Denuded Living Human Skin , Ann Surg 158:915-923, 1963.Crossref 20. Freundlich, H.: Colloid and Capillary Chemistry , New York: E. P. Dutton and Co., 1922, p 158. 21. Harkins, W.D., and Roberts, L.E.: Vaporization in Steps as Related to Surface Formation , J Amer Chem Soc 44:653, 1922. 22. Kuno, Y.: Human Perspiration , Springfield, Ill: Charles C Thomas, Publisher, 1956, pp 29-32 and 370-376. 23. Mali, J.W.H.: The Transport of Water Through the Human Epidermis , J Invest Derm 27:451-469, 1956.Crossref 24. Mercer, E.H.: Keratin and Keratinization: An Essay in Molecular Biology , vol 12, International Series of Monographs on Pure and Applied Biology, New York: Pergamon Press, 1961. 25. Noyes, A.A., and Sherill, M.S.: A Course of Study in Chemical Principles , ed 2, New York: Macmillan Co., 1938, pp 149-151. 26. Onken, H.D., and Moyer, CA.: The Water Barrier in Human Epidermis , Arch Derm 87:584-590, 1963.Crossref 27. Pinson, E.A.: Evaporation From Human Skin With Sweat Glands Inactivated , Amer J Physiol 137:492-500, 1942. 28. Ramsay, W.: Phil Mag ( (5) ) 38:206, 1894Crossref 29. Taylor, H.S.: A Treatise on Physical Chemistry , ed 1, Princeton, NJ: D. Van Nostrand Co., Inc., 1924, vol 1, p 223. 30. Thomson, W.: Phil Mag ( (4) ) 42:448, 1881 31. Butcher, H.R., Jr.: Unpublished data. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Archives of Surgery American Medical Association

Function of Human Skin in Relation To Its Macromolecular Structure

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References (18)

Publisher
American Medical Association
Copyright
Copyright © 1966 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.
ISSN
0004-0010
eISSN
1538-3644
DOI
10.1001/archsurg.1966.01320200062011
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Abstract MAMMALIAN life—in sea, fresh water, or air—could not exist should the outer integument—the skin—be permeable to water, inorganic ions, and gases. The removal of more than 30% of the integument from a terrestrial mammal living in dry air at a temperature lower than 28 C kills the animal by imposing such a negative evaporative thermal load upon the organism that it exceeds the organism's capacity to generate enough heat from exothermic chemical reactions to maintain body temperature. The body temperature drops and the animal dies.6 The burned human being bearing a granulating wound larger than 20% of body surface, if immersed in water, becomes ill and even dies of a combination of water gain and salt loss. Obviously such mammals as the whale and porpoise living in hypertonic seas could not exist should their skins not be impermeable to salts as well as water. Their sole water source is References 1. The killer whale excepted. 2. The water-vapor pressure of cold sea water is much lower than the water-vapor pressure in them. 3. This was measured by J. Ternberg using the electron spin resonance (ESR) technique. 4. Air effuses through alcohol-water-wet-refatted skin only after the water-alcohol solution in it has been "blown" by air under pressure ≅ 70 mm Hg. 5. This capillary pressure in the dermis could well be the force which prevents hydrostatic separation of the epidermis (blistering) of the legs during standing. Newly healed donor sites on the legs often blister during long sitting. This is especially true of donor sites that have been cropped three or four times during 48 to 60 days, making the remaining dermis very thin, and thereby reducing the dermal capillary pressure. 6. "3. Or, finally, the drop remains lying on the surface without spreading, the surface is unwettable. No surface is formed with the interfacial tension (σsf) but instead, the boundaries with the tensions σfg (surface tension of the liquid) and σsg (surface tension of the solid) are preserved. Then the free energy of the surface of the liquid against the solid must be greater than the sum of the free surface energies of the liquid and the solid again the gas, or σsf>σfg+σsg or (σsg—σ=(−) J>σfg) (J=adhesion tension)."7 7. Bridgman, Z Physik Chem 86:513, 1914. 8. Calculated using the Thomson equation (Table 6). 9. Ethyl alcohol was chosen for this experiment because the interfacial tension between ethyl alcohol and water is zero and the solubilities of one in the other are infinite. 10. Determined by weighing after wetting and after drying. 11. Upon soaking in 75 ml of distilled water for 30 minutes after the alcohol soak, a pressure of 160 mm Hg blew the skin; after the second soak in distilled water a pressure of 482 did it; and after the third soak the skin held air under a pressure of 782 mm Hg. 12. Diffusion rates cannot be calculated with any degree of certainty because of the character of the surface of the keratin. Because the air-water interface on the keratin is apparently made up of surfaces convex toward the air with radii of curvature of 5 A, the solubility of air in the water distributed over such surfaces would be much higher than it would be if the surfaces were plane. 13. Refatting was done with crude epidermal lipids after the skin was wet with water in order to render it pliable enough to place upon the receptacle. The skin was then dried in air over CaSO4 for 24 hours after partially filling the receptacle with water; the pressure in the chamber was then adjusted to atmospheric, and the observations were begun. 14. Berenson, G.S., and Burch, G.E.: Studies of Diffusion of Water Through Dead Human Skin: The Effect of Different Environmental State and of Chemical Alterations of the Epidermis , Amer J Trop Med 31:842-853, 1951. 15. Buettner, K.: Diffusion of Water and Water Vapor Through Human Skin , J Appl Physiol 6:229-242, 1953. 16. Bull, H.B.: An Introduction to Physical Biochemistry , Philadelphia: F. A. Davis Co., 1964, p 147. 17. Burch, G.E., and Winsor, T.: Rate of Insensible Perspiration (Diffusion of Water) Locally Through Living and Through Dead Human Skin , Arch Intern Med 74:437-444, 1944.Crossref 18. Buswell, A.M., and Rodebush, W.H.: Water , Sci Amer 194:77, 1956.Crossref 19. Fallon, R.H., and Moyer, C.A.: Rates of Insensible Perspiration Through Normal, Burned, Tape-Stripped, and Epidermally Denuded Living Human Skin , Ann Surg 158:915-923, 1963.Crossref 20. Freundlich, H.: Colloid and Capillary Chemistry , New York: E. P. Dutton and Co., 1922, p 158. 21. Harkins, W.D., and Roberts, L.E.: Vaporization in Steps as Related to Surface Formation , J Amer Chem Soc 44:653, 1922. 22. Kuno, Y.: Human Perspiration , Springfield, Ill: Charles C Thomas, Publisher, 1956, pp 29-32 and 370-376. 23. Mali, J.W.H.: The Transport of Water Through the Human Epidermis , J Invest Derm 27:451-469, 1956.Crossref 24. Mercer, E.H.: Keratin and Keratinization: An Essay in Molecular Biology , vol 12, International Series of Monographs on Pure and Applied Biology, New York: Pergamon Press, 1961. 25. Noyes, A.A., and Sherill, M.S.: A Course of Study in Chemical Principles , ed 2, New York: Macmillan Co., 1938, pp 149-151. 26. Onken, H.D., and Moyer, CA.: The Water Barrier in Human Epidermis , Arch Derm 87:584-590, 1963.Crossref 27. Pinson, E.A.: Evaporation From Human Skin With Sweat Glands Inactivated , Amer J Physiol 137:492-500, 1942. 28. Ramsay, W.: Phil Mag ( (5) ) 38:206, 1894Crossref 29. Taylor, H.S.: A Treatise on Physical Chemistry , ed 1, Princeton, NJ: D. Van Nostrand Co., Inc., 1924, vol 1, p 223. 30. Thomson, W.: Phil Mag ( (4) ) 42:448, 1881 31. Butcher, H.R., Jr.: Unpublished data.

Journal

Archives of Surgery – American Medical Association

Published: Feb 1, 1966

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