Tag Archives: integumentary system

Doubling up on burn protection

Treatment of major burns typically requires removing the damaged skin and covering the wound. If a graft of the patient’s own tissue is unavailable, tissue from a deceased donor may be used instead. Donor grafts have several drawbacks, chief being their rejection by the patient’s immune system within about 12 days. Subsequent donor grafts willContinueContinue reading “Doubling up on burn protection”

Depigmented mice get back to black

After successfully preventing and reversing vitiligo in two different mouse models, I. Caroline Le Poole (Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, IL) and her colleagues have applied for a patent and are seeking regulatory approval and funding to carry out a clinical trial. The basis of their new treatment is a mutant version of the heat-shock proteinContinueContinue reading “Depigmented mice get back to black”

‘Ginger’ coloration, a cost or a benefit?

Pheomelanin, a pigment responsible for reddish and chestnut coloration, is found only in higher vertebrates (i.e., birds and mammals) and carries several physiological costs. Its presence is associated with greater risks of skin cell damage and melanoma, and its synthesis in the body uses up the beneficial antioxidant glutathione. Pheomelanin is also phototoxic, producing reactiveContinueContinue reading “‘Ginger’ coloration, a cost or a benefit?”

Getting to the root of itch

Neuroscientists have wondered for years whether the signals for itch and pain—two distinct sensations that are both mediated by primary sensory neurons with cell bodies in the dorsal root ganglion or trigeminal ganglia—are transmitted by the same neurons or whether specific neurons are dedicated to each. Some studies have shown that itch-sensing neurons also respondContinueContinue reading “Getting to the root of itch”

Skin: a new frontier in protective immunity

Immune cells in the circulatory system are widely believed to be responsible for protection against pathogens. When an antigen is detected, immune cells produce antibodies to destroy it. Once the antigens are destroyed, antibody production ceases, but the cells ‘remember’ the antigen to help prevent future re-infection. These ‘memory cells’ are therefore an essential componentContinueContinue reading “Skin: a new frontier in protective immunity”

The root of male pattern baldness

Androgenetic alopecia (AGA), more commonly known as male pattern baldness, occurs in almost 80% of men during their lifetimes. Despite this high prevalence, little is known about its causes or potential treatments. George Cotsarelis (University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia) and colleagues sought to identify genetic factors involved in the condition by comparing gene expression levels inContinueContinue reading “The root of male pattern baldness”

Retrieving new information on ichthyosis

Ichthyosis is a broad term for a group of hereditary skin disorders with various presentations, usually including scaling of the skin. Some forms are relatively mild, whereas others are quite severe. Previous research has identified several genes and gene regions that are associated with some forms of ichthyosis, but for other forms, the underlying geneticContinueContinue reading “Retrieving new information on ichthyosis”

Wrinkle-free

Would you rather be wrinkly or bald? Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis recently described the positional cloning of a spontaneous mutation in wrinkle-free mice (wrfr), grafted skin from which is defective in hair growth. The homozygous mutant mice have extremely thick and tight skin with no wrinkles, but don’t throw out that wrinkleContinueContinue reading “Wrinkle-free”