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MEISSNER CORPUSCLES IN PATIENTS WITH CONGENITAL AND ACQUIRED SENSORY NEUROPATHIES
Author(s) -
Provitera V.,
Nolano M.,
Crisci C.,
Stancanelli A.,
Balbi P.,
Lullo F.,
Filla A.,
Santoro L.,
Caruso G.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of the peripheral nervous system
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1529-8027
pISSN - 1085-9489
DOI - 10.1046/j.1529-8027.2000.00513-49.x
Subject(s) - sensory system , medicine , pathology , anatomy , biology , neuroscience
Cutaneous innervation and particularly Meissner Corpuscles have been studied in glabrous skin of subjects with congenital and acquired sensory neuropathies. We performed 3‐mm punch skin biopsies from fingertips of 14 patients with Friedreich's Ataxia (FA), 6 young subjects with diabetes mellitus without symptoms and clinical or electrophysiological signs of sensory neuropathy, and in 4 subjects with acquired sensory neuropathy of undefined origin. An age‐ and sex‐matched control group of ten healthy subjects underwent the same procedures. All subjects included in the study signed an informed consent form. Once fixed and cryoprotected, the skin specimens were cut in 100‐micron‐thick sections and immunostained using primary antibodies specific for collagen (Col IV), nerve fibers (PGP 9.5), myelin sheet (MBP), and Meissner corpuscle capsula (S100), and linked to secondary antibodies labeled with Cy3 and Cy5 fluorophores. Digitized, completely in‐focus 3D images were obtained from z‐series of 2‐μm‐thick optical sections acquired with a confocal microscope. We found a reduction of Meissner corpuscle total number, area, and density of innervation that appeared marked in patients with FA and moderate in diabetic patients. The third group of patients showed anomalies ranging from a mild reduction of the Meissner corpuscle area and density of innervation to a complete loss of the receptors. Punch biopsy turned out to be an accurate tool to study the cutaneous innervation in glabrous skin and to assess the nervous structures health status also in the very early stages of the sensory neuropathies.