This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

Stratum basale

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

The stratum basale is the deepest layer of the epidermis. It is only one cell thick and has a basement membrane upon which it is adhered, superficial to the dermis.

It contains dividing undifferentiated cells - up to a third of the population of cells here may be dividing at any one time - which repopulate the overlying layers in a cyclical manner to maintain a roughly constant epidermal thickness. Mitosis can take between 2-5 days. Once daughter cells ascend to the stratum spinosum, they differentiate into keratinocytes.

The cells of the stratum basale have numerous intracellular organelles indicating their rapid synthetic activity. Amongst products of the cell are tonofilaments which are involved in keratin production.

The stratum basale can be involved in a range of skkin disorders e.g. basal cell tumours and psoriasis.


Related pages

Create an account to add page annotations

Add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation, such as a web address or phone number. This information will always be displayed when you visit this page