Meissner's corpuscle
Meissner's corpuscles (discovered by the
anatomist Georg Meissner (
1829-
1903)) are a type of
mechanoreceptor and more specifically, a tactile corpuscle (
corpusculum tactus). They are distributed throughout the
skin, but concentrated in areas especially sensitive to light touch, such as the
fingertips,
palms,
soles,
lips,
tongue,
face,
nipples and the external skin of the male and female
genitals. They are primarily located just beneath the
epidermis within the
dermal papillae.
Meissner's corpuscles are encapsulated
unmyelinated nerve endings, which consist of flattened supportive cells arranged as horizontal lamellae surrounded by a
connective tissue capsule. A single nerve fiber meanders between the lamellae and throughout the corpuscle. Any physical deformation in the corpuscle will cause an
action potential in the nerve. Since they are rapidly adapting or
phasic, the
action potentials generated quickly decrease and eventually cease. If the stimulus is removed, the corpuscle regains its shape and while doing so (ie: while physically reforming) causes another volley of
action potentials to be generated. (This is the reason one stops "feeling" one's clothes.) Because of their superficial location in the
dermis, these corpuscles are particularly sensitive to touch and vibrations, but for the same reasons, they are limited in their detection because they can only signal that something is touching the skin. Feelings of deep
pressure (from a poke, for instance) are generated from
Pacinian corpuscles (the only other type of phasic tactile mechanoreceptor), which are located deeper in the dermis, and some
free nerve endings. Also, Meissner's corpuscles do not detect
pain; this is signalled exclusively by
free nerve endings.
* Donald L. Rubbelke D.A.
Tissues of the Human Body: An Introduction. McGraw-Hill. 1999 Meissner's and Pacinian corpuscles*Dawn A. Tamarkin, Ph.D.
Anatomy and Physiology Unit 15 Vision and Somatic Senses: Touch and Pressure* S Gilman.
Joint position sense and vibration sense: anatomical organisation and assessment. Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry 2002;73:473-477
