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The Journal of Neuroscience, September 15, 2001, 21(18):7236-7246

The Meissner Corpuscle Revised: A Multiafferented Mechanoreceptor with Nociceptor Immunochemical Properties

Michel Paré1, Robert Elde2, Joseph E. Mazurkiewicz3, Allan M. Smith1, and Frank L. Rice3

1 Département de Physiologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada H3C 3J7, 2 Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, and 3 Center for Neuropharmacology and Neuroscience, Albany Medical College, Albany, New York 12208

Meissner corpuscles (MCs) in the glabrous skin of monkey digits have at least three types of innervation as revealed by immunofluorescence. The previously well known Aalpha beta -fiber terminals are closely intertwined with endings from peptidergic C-fibers. These intertwined endings are segregated into zones that alternate with zones containing a third type of ending supplied by nonpeptidergic C-fibers. Although MCs are widely regarded as low-threshold mechanoreceptors, all three types of innervation express immunochemical properties associated with nociception. The peptidergic C-fiber endings have readily detectable levels of immunoreactivity (IR) for calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) and substance P (SP). The Aalpha beta endings have relatively lower levels of IR for CGRP and SP as well as the SP neurokinin 1 receptor and vanilloid-like receptor 1. Both the Aalpha beta and peptidergic C-fiber endings were also labeled with antibodies for different combinations of adrenergic, opioid, and purinergic receptors. The nonpeptidergic C-fiber endings express IR for vanilloid receptor 1, which has also been implicated in nociception. Thus, MCs are multiafferented receptor organs that may have nociceptive capabilities in addition to being low-threshold mechanoreceptors.

Key words: digit; cutaneous innervation; Meissner corpuscle; primate; mechanoreceptors; nociceptors

Copyright © 2001 Society for Neuroscience  0270-6474/01/21187236-11$05.00/0




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