-
Neuron Oct 2023Across mammalian skin, structurally complex and diverse mechanosensory end organs respond to mechanical stimuli and enable our perception of dynamic, light touch. How...
Across mammalian skin, structurally complex and diverse mechanosensory end organs respond to mechanical stimuli and enable our perception of dynamic, light touch. How forces act on morphologically dissimilar mechanosensory end organs of the skin to gate the requisite mechanotransduction channel Piezo2 and excite mechanosensory neurons is not understood. Here, we report high-resolution reconstructions of the hair follicle lanceolate complex, Meissner corpuscle, and Pacinian corpuscle and the subcellular distribution of Piezo2 within them. Across all three end organs, Piezo2 is restricted to the sensory axon membrane, including axon protrusions that extend from the axon body. These protrusions, which are numerous and elaborate extensively within the end organs, tether the axon to resident non-neuronal cells via adherens junctions. These findings support a unified model for dynamic touch in which mechanical stimuli stretch hundreds to thousands of axon protrusions across an end organ, opening proximal, axonal Piezo2 channels and exciting the neuron.
Topics: Animals; Merkel Cells; Mechanotransduction, Cellular; Imaging, Three-Dimensional; Ion Channels; Mechanoreceptors; Mammals
PubMed: 37725982
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2023.08.023 -
Purinergic Signalling Mar 2021Purinergic signalling plays important roles in somatosensory and nociceptive transmission in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord under physiological and... (Review)
Review
Purinergic signalling plays important roles in somatosensory and nociceptive transmission in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord under physiological and pathophysiological conditions. Physiologically, ATP mediates excitatory postsynaptic responses in nociceptive transmission in the superficial dorsal horn, and in transmission of innocuous primary afferent inputs in the deep dorsal horn. Additionally, extracellular conversion of ATP to adenosine mediates inhibitory postsynaptic responses from Pacinian corpuscle afferents, and is implicated in analgesia caused by transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation in humans. In terms of pathological pain, P2X4 receptors de novo expressed on dorsal horn microglia are implicated in pain hypersensitivity following peripheral nerve injury. There is evidence that involvement of such P2X4 receptors is sexually dimorphic, occurring in males but not in females. Thus, the roles of purinergic signalling in physiological and pathological pain processing are complex and remain an ever-expanding field of research.
Topics: Adenosine Triphosphate; Animals; Disease Models, Animal; Humans; Microglia; Neuralgia; Posterior Horn Cells; Receptors, Purinergic; Spinal Cord Dorsal Horn
PubMed: 33169292
DOI: 10.1007/s11302-020-09748-5 -
Micromachines May 2021The Pacinian corpuscle is a highly sensitive mammalian sensor cell that exhibits a unique band-pass sensitivity to vibrations. The cell achieves this band-pass response...
The Pacinian corpuscle is a highly sensitive mammalian sensor cell that exhibits a unique band-pass sensitivity to vibrations. The cell achieves this band-pass response through the use of 20 to 70 elastic layers entrapping layers of viscous fluid. This paper develops and explores a scalable mechanical model of the Pacinian corpuscle and uses the model to predict the response of synthetic corpuscles, which could be the basis for future vibration sensors. The -3dB point of the biological cell is accurately mimicked using the geometries and materials available with off-the-shelf 3D printers. The artificial corpuscles here are constructed using uncured photoresist within structures printed in a commercial stereolithography (SLA) 3D printer, allowing the creation of trapped fluid layers analogous to the biological cell. Multi-layer artificial Pacinian corpuscles are vibration tested over the range of 20-3000 Hz and the response is in good agreement with the model.
PubMed: 34070189
DOI: 10.3390/mi12050574 -
Journal of Neurophysiology Feb 2015The goal of this review is to start to consolidate and distill the substantial body of research that comprises the published work of the late Professor Steven S. Hsiao.... (Review)
Review
The goal of this review is to start to consolidate and distill the substantial body of research that comprises the published work of the late Professor Steven S. Hsiao. The studies of Hsiao began by demonstrating the receptive field properties of somatosensory neurons, progressed to describing cortical feature selectivity, and then eventually elevated the field to hopes of tapping into natural neural codes with artificial somatosensory feedback. With ongoing analogies to contemporaneous studies in visual neuroscience, the research results and writings of Hsiao have provided the fields of haptics and somatosensory neurophysiology with the conceptual tools needed to allow profound progress. Specifically, Hsiao suggested that slowly adapting tactile form perception could be restored with cortical microstimulation, rapidly adapting slip reflexes should be relegated to low-level, hard-wired prosthetic components, and Pacinian-corpuscle spatiotemporal population responses could potentially be decoded/encoded to provide information about interactions of hands and hand-held instruments with external objects. Future studies will be guided by these insightful reports from Hsiao.
Topics: Animals; Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory; Humans; Somatosensory Cortex; Touch Perception
PubMed: 25392173
DOI: 10.1152/jn.00670.2014 -
Revista Espanola de Patologia :... 2020Pacinian neurofibroma (PNF) is a lobulated benign neural tumor with prominent structures resembling pacinian bodies. These tumors most commonly occur in areas where...
Pacinian neurofibroma (PNF) is a lobulated benign neural tumor with prominent structures resembling pacinian bodies. These tumors most commonly occur in areas where normal pacinian bodies are found, such as the hands and feet. Although pacinian bodies are common in the penis, no cases of penile PNF have been reported to date. We present a case of PNF on the dorsal glans penis of a 47-year-old man. The lesion presented as a single flesh-colored papule and the biopsy showed a dermal neurofibroma consisting of bland spindle cells with wavy nuclei, without mitoses or atypia, and some nodular structures with a concentric arrangement and a pacinian appearance. Immunohistochemistry demonstrated positivity for CD34 and Vimetin and negativity for Epithelial Membrane Antigen (EMA). S100 was highly positive in the most central areas of the pacinian-like nodules, while the periphery and non-nodular parts of the neurofibroma were less intensively expressed.
Topics: Antigens, CD34; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Neurofibroma; Pacinian Corpuscles; Penile Neoplasms; S100 Proteins; Vimentin
PubMed: 32199595
DOI: 10.1016/j.patol.2019.03.008 -
Pathology Jun 2022
Topics: Humans; Pacinian Corpuscles
PubMed: 34565604
DOI: 10.1016/j.pathol.2021.06.126