keratinocyte

(noun)

The predominant cell type in the epidermis, the outermost layer of the skin, constituting 95% of the cells found there. Those keratinocytes found in the basal layer (stratum germinativum) of the skin are sometimes referred to as basal cells or basal keratinocytes.

Related Terms

(noun)

Keratinocyte is the predominant cell type in the epidermis, the outermost layer of the skin, constituting 95% of the cells found there. Those keratinocytes found in the basal layer (Stratum germinativum) of the skin are sometimes referred to as "basal cells" or "basal keratinocytes. "

Related Terms

Examples of keratinocyte in the following topics:

  • Structure of the Skin: Epidermis

    • Keratinocytes produce the most important protein of the epidermis. 
    • From there the keratinocytes move into the next layer, called the stratum granulosum. 
    • The keratinocytes produce a lot of keratin in this layer—they become filled with keratin. 
    • The keratinocytes in this layer are called corneocytes.
    • They divide to form the keratinocytes of the stratum spinosum, which migrate superficially.

  • Skin Color

    • However, the pigment of our skin also involves the most abundant cells of our epidermis, the keratinocytes. 
    • While melanocytes produce, store, and release melanin, keratinocytes are the largest recipients of this pigment. 
    • The transfer of melanin from melanocytes to keratinocytes occurs thanks to the long tentacles each melanocyte extends to upwards of 40 keratinocytes. 

  • Hemidesmosomes

    • Hemidesmosomes (HD) are very small stud- or rivet-like structures on the inner basal surface of keratinocytes in the epidermis of skin.
    • Together, the HD-anchoring filament complex forms a continuous structural link between the basal keratinocyte keratin intermediate filaments and the underlying basement membrane zone (BMZ) and dermal components.
    • Electron microscopic analysis of the epidermal basement membrane zone (BMZ) reveals that it comprises a narrow and sometimes folded interface between the basal keratinocytes and the dermis.

  • Epidermal Wound Healing

    • Keratinocytes—epidermal epithelial cells—around the wound site migrate across the wound and close it.

  • Human Papillomavirus (HPV)

    • Like all papillomaviruses, HPVs establish productive infections only in keratinocytes of the skin or mucous membranes.

  • What is Skin?

    • This is where the skin’s most important cells, called keratinocytes, are formed before moving up to the surface of the epidermis and being shed into the environment as dead skin cells. 

  • Mechanics of Cellular Differentation

    • One type of adult stem cell is the epithelial stem cell, which gives rise to the keratinocytes (cells that produce keratin, the primary protein in nails and hair) in the multiple layers of epithelial cells in the epidermis of skin.

  • Skin and Mucosae (Surface Barriers)

    • It is made of stratified squamous epithelium tissues, composed of proliferating basal and differentiated suprabasal keratinocytes that form an extracellular matrix to continually divide as the older outer layers of the epidermis shed.

  • Structure of the Skin: Dermis

    • The papillary layer provides the layer above it, the epidermis, with nutrients to produce skin cells called keratinocytes.