Large amounts of vernix on babies feet, baby not yet rubbed down, baby approximately 60 seconds out of womb.
Traces of vernix caseosa on a full term newborn
Vernix, also known as Vernix caseosa, is the "waxy" or "cheesy" white substance found coating the skin of newborn humans. It is secreted by the fetus's sebaceous glandsin utero, and is hypothesized to have antibacterial properties."Vernix" is the Latin word for "varnish." The vernix (or "varnish"), "varnishes" the baby. "Caseosa" is "cheese" in Latin Image File history File linksMetadata Vernix_feet. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Vernix_feet. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1600x1200, 548 KB) Summary Full-term newborn a few minutes after delivery. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1600x1200, 548 KB) Summary Full-term newborn a few minutes after delivery. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Epidermis (skin). ... A human infant The word Infant derives from the Latin in-fans, meaning unable to speak. ... Schematic view of a hair follicle with sebaceous gland. ...
Vernix is composed of sebum (the oil of the skin) and cells that have sloughed off the fetus' skin.
The vernix is secreted by the sebaceous glands around the 20th week to protect the baby's skin from dehydration in the womb. Without the vernix, the baby would have very wrinkled skin from constant exposure to the watery amniotic fluid. The amount of vernix present decreases toward the end of gestation.
Vernix is sometimes offered as supporting evidence for the Aquatic Ape Hypothesis (AAH/AAT) that the reason for the divergence between the hominids and their ape-like relatives was due to a long semi-aquatic phase of history. No other land mammal, including the apes, produces vernix-coated neonates; in contrast, some sea mammals, including the harbour seal, do (Prog. 2 of BBC series on AAH/AAT). The aquatic ape hypothesis (sometimes called the aquatic ape theory) proposes that the ancestors of humans went through one or more periods of time living in a semi-aquatic setting and that this history accounts for many of the characteristics of species in the Homo genus that are not seen... The aquatic ape hypothesis (or aquatic ape theory as it is frequently called) is most commonly interpreted to hold that ancestors of humans and other hominids went through one or more periods of time living in a semi-aquatic setting on an African seacoast, that they gathered most of their... The aquatic ape hypothesis (sometimes called the aquatic ape theory) proposes that the ancestors of humans went through one or more periods of time living in a semi-aquatic setting and that this history accounts for many of the characteristics of species in the Homo genus that are not seen...
External links
PubMed articles on Vernix caseosa
Scars of Evolution (online series of two BBC radio programmes about AAH/AAT)
Vernix is a lipid rich substance composed of sebum, epidermal lipids, and desquamated epithelial cells that covers the skin of the developing fetus in utero while the fetus is completely surrounded by amniotic fluid.
Vernix is a covering for the skin of the fetus that resembles the stratum corneum except that it lacks multiple rigid desmosomal connections.
Since vernix detaches in part from the skin prior to birth and is swallowed by the developing fetus, the detachment process may be aided by the presence of surfactant material of pulmonary origin that is present in the amniotic fluid.
The role of vernixcaseosa in the process of skin cleansing in the perinatal period was studied.
Recent studies reveal that vernix has ante-infective, water modularity, and antioxidant properties that are potentially involved in the neonatal transition to an extrauterine environment.
In the last trimester, vernix accumulates on the skin surface and detaches concomitantly with increasing amounts of pulmonary surfactant in the amniotic fluid.
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