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Innervation pattern of touch domes in cat paws – three dimensional analysis
Author(s) -
Ebara Satomi,
Kumamoto Kenzo,
Baumann Klaus I,
Halata Zdenek
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.20.5.a881
Subject(s) - anatomy , cutaneous nerve , merkel cell , free nerve ending , mechanoreceptor , dermis , epidermis (zoology) , biology , sensory system , pathology , medicine , merkel cell carcinoma , neuroscience , carcinoma
The skin is the largest sensory organ in mammals, containing huge numbers of free nerve endings serving as polymodal nociceptors as well as specific corpuscular mechanoreceptors i.e.Meissner, Ruffini and Vater‐Pacini corpuscles. Merkel cells with associated nerve terminals functioning as slowly adapting mechanoreceptors are found in hairy skin forming touch domes (“Tastscheiben”) and around whisker hair follikels as well as in glabrous skin particularly in finger tips. The aim of the present investigation was to study the three dimensional arrangement of the innervation of touch domes from the trunk of one afferent nerve fiber to all Merkel endings using confocal laser microscopic analysis (BioRad Radiance 2000 on Nikon E600). Frozen serial sections (150–200 μm thick) from skin folds of the cat paw were stained immunohistochemically using primary antibodies for PGP9.5, S100 and CK20. They were mounted between two cover slips allowing observation from both sides. Sequential sections were reconstructed using the software VGStudioMax. In contrast to previous studies, this method allows quantitative analysis of all observed structures rather than estimating numbers. The largest touch domes consisted of up to 150 Merkel cells. Almost all of them were contacted by a basket of nerve fibers. Each touch dome was innervated by originally only one thick myelinated nerve fiber, branching repeatedly in the subdermis and dermis before the final branches reached 5 to 10 Merkel cells in the epidermis just above the basement membrane.