Wednesday, October 10, 2012

The Structure......

The Structure of Skin

Before having a better understanding of the causes and symptoms of the Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB) let’s take a look on the structure of the skin.

Human skin is made up of 3 layers:

The Epidermis : The outer layer of the skin.
The Dermis     : The middle layer of skin
The Subcutis   : the deepest layer of skin, mainly made up of fat


The ‘Epidermis’ and ‘Dermis’ meet at a point which is known as ‘Basement Membrane Zone’ (BMZ). This contains specialized proteins like ‘Laminin-332’ ~ acts as a kind of cellular glue ~ which keep the two layers stuck securely together.

Mutation of genes can cause one or more of the proteins in the BMZ to not work properly. This means that trauma of friction to an area of skin could result in the ‘epidermis’ and ‘dermis’ becoming unstuck. If the two layers become separated, a space is created which is then filled with fluid to form a blister.



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