Some unknown facts about nails

The Nails are clone like plates which are present on the tips of our fingers and toes. They help to protect the tips of the fingers and toes, but do you know what our nails are made up of and how do they grow long? Well, the nails are made up of keratin protein.

What is protein?

Protein is a large biological molecule which is used by the body as a major source of energy. Proteins are of different types and perform different important functions in our body. for example, enzymes in our body are protein, which helps in metabolism and different metabolic reactions in the cell. hemoglobin in red blood cells is also a protein which helps to transfer oxygen through the body. Likewise thrumbin, prothrombin, fibrinogen and antibodies, all are protein in nature and perform numerous essential functions in the body.

Amino acid

Protein is a macromolecule which is made up of small subunits called amino acids.The structure of amino acid consists of a carbon atom in the center, an amino group, a carboxylic group, a hydrogen atom and the R group (functional group).

H

|

NH2---C----CHO2

|

R

There are almost 170 types of amino acids, from which 25 amino acid are constituents of different protein and 20 types of amino acids make almost all the other types of proteins. These 20 types of amino acids arrange in different sequence and a form a peptide chain. The bond between two or more amino acids is called peptide bond. The structure of protein has four levels which are called primary, secondary, tertiary, and quatanary, and the keratin falls in the category of quatanary . This protein let the nails grow strong and hard.

The nail is divided into three basic parts called nail plate, nail matrix and nail bed.

1. Nail plate

Nail plate is the outer visible and hard part of the nails. The tip of the nail plate is called nail free margin. This is the part of the nail which we usually cut.

2. Nail matrix

The whitish region behind the nail plate is called nail matrix which looks like a half moon. The visible part of nail matrix is called lunula. Nail matrix is the region where nails cells divid to form new one.

3. Nail bed

Nail bed is the part present below the nail plate. It is made up of dermis and epidermis and contains the blood vessels and capillaries which supply blood to the nails. Due to the presence of these blood vessels, our nails appears pinkish in color. It is called nail bed, because the nail plate rests on it.

How the nails grow?

The nail matrix contains specialized cells which divide through the process in of mitosis and produce the nail cells. These cells grow and make the keratin protein. As the new cells are synthesized, the older cells are pushed by the new ones to lunula portion of the nail matrix. In lunula, the cytoplasm of these cells disappear and they start dieing. These dead cells are continuously pushed towards the tip of the nail, like this our nails grow long. The keratin present in these dead cells provide strength to the nails and make them hard.

The nails grow continuously throughout the life. In a month, our nails can grow about 3 mm in length. And In males the nails growth rate is more than females. In summer the nail grows faster as compare to winters, because in summers the day length is long, and the sun provide more vitamin D which is important for nails growth. The nails of fingers grow faster than the toes.