Constitutive Modelling of Skin Ageing
The objective of this chapter is to review the main biomechanical and structural aspects associated with both intrinsic and extrinsic skin ageing, and to present potential research avenues to account for these effects in mathematical and computational mod
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Abstract The objective of this chapter is to review the main biomechanical and structural aspects associated with both intrinsic and extrinsic skin ageing, and to present potential research avenues to account for these effects in mathematical and computational models of the skin. This will be illustrated through recent work of the authors which provides a basis to those interested in developing mechanistic constitutive models capturing the mechanobiology of skin across the life course.
1 Introduction The skin is not only the largest organ of the human body but is also one of the most complex multi-functional physiological systems in mammalian species [1]. Its main role is to ensure cohesion and protection of the internal body structures against mechanical, thermal, biological and radiological threats. It also has critically
G. Limbert () National Centre for Advanced Tribology at Southampton (nCATS) — Bioengineering Science Research Group, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK Laboratory of Biomechanics and Mechanobiology, Division of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Observatory, South Africa e-mail: [email protected] D. Pond Centre for Research in Computational and Applied Mechanics, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa A. McBride Glasgow Computational Engineering Centre, Division of Infrastructure and Environment, School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 G. Limbert (ed.), Skin Biophysics, Studies in Mechanobiology, Tissue Engineering and Biomaterials 22, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13279-8_5
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important thermo-regulation, biochemical synthesis and sensory functions [1, 2]. Moreover, the skin plays an important social and psychological role as it is a permanent reminder of our ethnicity, health status, age and past traumas, and therefore, provides direct and indirect cues to the people we interact with. By means of a rich library of mechanically-activated facial expressions, from microwrinkles to large macroscopic tissue folds, the skin is a powerful vehicle for conscious and subconscious communication. From these facts it is straightforward to conclude that, beyond physiology, the skin is crucial to human life and could be viewed as a “brain on the outside” [3]. Like any other organ of the body, the skin inexorably undergoes what is termed chronological or intrinsic ageing; a series of biochemical molecular degenerative changes occurring as the result of the mere passage of time and progression into older age. These alterations involve decreased proliferative capacity which leads to cellular senescence and altered biosynthetic activity of skin derived cells. Intrinsic ageing is triggered by two main mechanisms which can operate in concert, namely DNA damage and chromosomes’ telomere shortening [4–7]. The fact t
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