Britannica Sources used in this answer

How do desmosomes help hold epidermal cells together?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

Learn how regenerative properties of the skin helps to protect the human body from the external environment — human skin Human skin, whose cells are generated continuously by the body, serves as a protective barrier between the inside of the human body and the environment.

Desmosomes act as specialized attachment plaques that anchor adjacent cells in the human skin together. Rather than fusing the cells completely, these structures create a zipperlike contact between cell membranes, leaving fluid-filled spaces that allow nutrients from the dermis to circulate.12

Functionally, desmosomes help the epidermis withstand mechanical stress by distributing shear forces throughout the tissue. They achieve this by associating with keratin filaments—intermediate filaments that cross the cell interior—to form a continuous, fibrous network across the epithelial sheet. This concatenation of cells ensures that they remain securely anchored to one another, preventing them from being easily sloughed off despite the physical demands placed on the skin.31