The body's tailored suit: Skin as a mechanical interface

Abstract

Skin, by nature, is very similar to the Rouquayrol-Denayrouze suit mentioned by Jules Verne in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea: it allows "to risk (…) new physiological conditions without suffering any organic disorder". Mechanical cues, to the same extent as other environmental parameters, are such "new physiological conditions". Indeed, skin's primary function is to form a protective barrier to shield inner tissues from the external environment. This requires unique mechanical properties as well as the ability to sense mechanical cues from the environment in order to prevent or repair mechanical damages as well as to function as the primary mechanosensory interface of the whole body.

Keywords: Dermis; Epidermis; Integrins; Mechanobiology; Tissue stiffness.