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Morphology and composition play distinct and complementary roles in the tolerance of plantar skin to mechanical load

Plantar skin on the soles of the feet has a distinct morphology and composition that is thought to enhance its tolerance to mechanical loads, although the individual contributions of morphology and composition have never been quantified. Here, we combine multiscale mechanical testing and computation...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Boyle, Colin J., Plotczyk, Magdalena, Villalta, Sergi Fayos, Patel, Sharad, Hettiaratchy, Shehan, Masouros, Spyros D., Masen, Marc A., Higgins, Claire A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Association for the Advancement of Science 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6785259/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31633031
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aay0244
Descripción
Sumario:Plantar skin on the soles of the feet has a distinct morphology and composition that is thought to enhance its tolerance to mechanical loads, although the individual contributions of morphology and composition have never been quantified. Here, we combine multiscale mechanical testing and computational models of load bearing to quantify the mechanical environment of both plantar and nonplantar skin under load. We find that morphology and composition play distinct and complementary roles in plantar skin’s load tolerance. More specifically, the thick stratum corneum provides protection from stress-based injuries such as skin tears and blisters, while epidermal and dermal compositions provide protection from deformation-based injuries such as pressure ulcers. This work provides insights into the roles of skin morphology and composition more generally and will inform the design of engineered skin substitutes as well as the etiology of skin injury.