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Keratin

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Pharmacology of the Skin I

Part of the book series: Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology ((HEP,volume 87 / 1))

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Abstract

Keratinisation is a complex orderly process by which viable epidermal cells are converted into dead cornified cells. In the skin this occurs in the epidermis, hair and nails, although there are significant differences in the products formed in the three tissues. A structure common to all of them, however, is the filamentous fibrous protein, keratin (FRaser et al. 1972), which is synthesised and remains intracellularly. Keratin has a coiled coil structure in all three tissues as revealed by X-ray diffraction studies but the amino acid composition of epidermal keratin differs from that of nail and hair, which are very similar (Table 1) (BADEN et al. 1973).

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Authors
  1. H. P. Baden
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Institute of Dermatology, St. Thomas’s Hospital, Lambeth Palace Road, SE1 7EH, London, Great Britain

    Malcolm W. Greaves M.D., Ph.D., F.R.C.P.

  2. Department of Dermatology, The Royal Victoria Infirmary, The University of Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4LP, Newcastle upon Tyne, Great Britain

    Sam Shuster M.D., F.R.C.P.

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© 1989 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Baden, H.P. (1989). Keratin. In: Greaves, M.W., Shuster, S. (eds) Pharmacology of the Skin I. Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology, vol 87 / 1. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-73797-8_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-73797-8_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-73799-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-73797-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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