UNRAVELING THE MYSTERY OF VERNIX CASEOSA

Vernix caseosa is a white, creamy, naturally occurring biofilm covering the skin of the fetus during the last trimester of pregnancy. Vernix coating on the neonatal skin protects the newborn skin and facilitates extra-uterine adaptation of skin in the first postnatal week if not washed away after bi...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Singh, Gurcharan, Archana, G
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Medknow Publications 2008
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2763724/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19881987
http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/0019-5154.41645
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author Singh, Gurcharan
Archana, G
author_facet Singh, Gurcharan
Archana, G
author_sort Singh, Gurcharan
collection PubMed
description Vernix caseosa is a white, creamy, naturally occurring biofilm covering the skin of the fetus during the last trimester of pregnancy. Vernix coating on the neonatal skin protects the newborn skin and facilitates extra-uterine adaptation of skin in the first postnatal week if not washed away after birth. It consists of water-containing corneocytes embedded in a lipid matrix. The strategic location of the vernix on the fetal skin surface suggests participation in multiple overlapping functions required at birth, such as barrier to water loss, temperature regulation, and innate immunity. Vernix seems to perform various integral roles during transition of the fetus from intra-uterine to extra-uterine life. It has also found various interesting diagnostic and prognostic implications in this arena. Thus, it continues to be an intriguing topic of interest among the medical fraternity to understand its detailed biology and function in the fetus and also to put its naturally endowed characteristics to use in the adult population.
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spelling pubmed-27637242009-10-29 UNRAVELING THE MYSTERY OF VERNIX CASEOSA Singh, Gurcharan Archana, G Indian J Dermatol Review Article Vernix caseosa is a white, creamy, naturally occurring biofilm covering the skin of the fetus during the last trimester of pregnancy. Vernix coating on the neonatal skin protects the newborn skin and facilitates extra-uterine adaptation of skin in the first postnatal week if not washed away after birth. It consists of water-containing corneocytes embedded in a lipid matrix. The strategic location of the vernix on the fetal skin surface suggests participation in multiple overlapping functions required at birth, such as barrier to water loss, temperature regulation, and innate immunity. Vernix seems to perform various integral roles during transition of the fetus from intra-uterine to extra-uterine life. It has also found various interesting diagnostic and prognostic implications in this arena. Thus, it continues to be an intriguing topic of interest among the medical fraternity to understand its detailed biology and function in the fetus and also to put its naturally endowed characteristics to use in the adult population. Medknow Publications 2008 /pmc/articles/PMC2763724/ /pubmed/19881987 http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/0019-5154.41645 Text en © Indian Journal of Dermatology http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Review Article
Singh, Gurcharan
Archana, G
UNRAVELING THE MYSTERY OF VERNIX CASEOSA
title UNRAVELING THE MYSTERY OF VERNIX CASEOSA
title_full UNRAVELING THE MYSTERY OF VERNIX CASEOSA
title_fullStr UNRAVELING THE MYSTERY OF VERNIX CASEOSA
title_full_unstemmed UNRAVELING THE MYSTERY OF VERNIX CASEOSA
title_short UNRAVELING THE MYSTERY OF VERNIX CASEOSA
title_sort unraveling the mystery of vernix caseosa
topic Review Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2763724/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19881987
http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/0019-5154.41645
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