Morphometric analyses of the development of dermis in human fetuses

In this study, the morphometric differences of the different dermis regions during the development of the human fetus were investigated. The different dermis regions, namely, cranial, femoral and plantar (sole) parts of 40 fetuses which were between 12th-23.5th week gestation age were obtained from maternity hospital and after the routine H&E histological procedure, the measurement was performed with ocular micrometer. The first sharp increase was observed in the dermis of cranial region. It has been suggested that the thickness of the dermis is dependent on the collagen and elastic fibres, but the flexibility of the dermis is dependent on the number and the structure of the elastic fibres. The early beginning of the increase of the dermis thickness in the cranial part may be due to the effect of the cranio-caudal stimulation on the production of the collagen and elastic fibres in the embryonic term.