Peripheral Mechanobiology of Touch-Studies on Vertebrate Cutaneous Sensory Corpuscles

The vertebrate skin contains sensory corpuscles that are receptors for different qualities of mechanosensitivity like light brush, touch, pressure, stretch or vibration. These specialized sensory organs are linked anatomically and functionally to mechanosensory neurons, which function as low-thresho...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of molecular sciences 2020-08, Vol.21 (17), p.6221
Main Authors: Cobo, Ramón, García-Piqueras, Jorge, García-Mesa, Yolanda, Feito, Jorge, García-Suárez, Olivia, Vega, Jose A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
acid-sensing ion channels
Acidity
Animals
Biophysical Phenomena
Corpuscles
Degenerin
Fibers
Hair
Humans
Ion channels
Ion Channels - metabolism
low-threshold mechanoreceptors
mechanoproteins
Mechanoreceptors
Mechanoreceptors - physiology
Mechanotransduction
Mechanotransduction, Cellular
Morphology
Nerve Fibers - metabolism
Neurons
Organs
Review
Sense organs
sensory corpuscles
Sensory neurons
Skin
Skin - metabolism
Sodium channels
Touch
transient receptor potential channels
Transient receptor potential proteins
Vertebrates
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Summary:The vertebrate skin contains sensory corpuscles that are receptors for different qualities of mechanosensitivity like light brush, touch, pressure, stretch or vibration. These specialized sensory organs are linked anatomically and functionally to mechanosensory neurons, which function as low-threshold mechanoreceptors connected to peripheral skin through Aβ nerve fibers. Furthermore, low-threshold mechanoreceptors associated with Aδ and C nerve fibers have been identified in hairy skin. The process of mechanotransduction requires the conversion of a mechanical stimulus into electrical signals (action potentials) through the activation of mechanosensible ion channels present both in the axon and the periaxonal cells of sensory corpuscles (i.e., Schwann-, endoneurial- and perineurial-related cells). Most of those putative ion channels belong to the degenerin/epithelial sodium channel (especially the family of acid-sensing ion channels), the transient receptor potential channel superfamilies, and the Piezo family. This review updates the current data about the occurrence and distribution of putative mechanosensitive ion channels in cutaneous mechanoreceptors including primary sensory neurons and sensory corpuscles.
ISSN:1422-0067
1661-6596
1422-0067
DOI:10.3390/ijms21176221