The dominance of the dermis

Abstract

Although to a great extent the epidermal cells control their own fate through their chalone control mechanism, it is clear that they are also dependent in many ways on influences emanating from the dermis. In adult epidermis the chalone mechanism cannot function without the promitotic action of the mesenchymal factor, and the regional differences in epidermal thickness and structure are dermis-dependent. However, the influence of the dermis is more wide-ranging than this. The epidermis owes to the embryonic and fetal dermis its differentiation as a keratinsynthesizing epithelium, as well as its ability to give rise to a range of derivative tissues such as mammary glands, sweat glands, and hair follicles.