Sensory - Touch Development

Embryology - 17 May 2024        Expand to Translate
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Introduction

Touch receptors in mammalian skin.

Skin Pacinian corpuscle

These notes introduce the development of the sense of touch, part of the somatosensory system. Because of the distribution of the sensory structures within the skin, this topic is generally also covered in integumentary development.

Some Recent Findings

Wetness perception across body sites "Human skin is innervated with a variety of receptors serving somatosensation and includes the sensory sub-modalities of touch, temperature, pain and itch. The density and type of receptors differ across the body surface, and there are various body-map representations in the brain. The perceptions of skin sensations outside of the specified sub-modalities, e.g. wetness or greasiness, are described as 'touch blends' and are learned. ...The perception of wetness is generated from the coincident activation of tactile and thermal receptors. The perception of wetness did not, however, differ significantly across body sites and there were no significant interactions between wetness level and body site." A Shift in Sensory Processing that Enables the Developing Human Brain to Discriminate Touch from Pain "When and how infants begin to discriminate noxious from innocuous stimuli is a fundamental question in neuroscience. However, little is known about the development of the necessary cortical somatosensory functional prerequisites in the intact human brain. ... The results suggest that specific neural circuits necessary for discrimination between touch and nociception emerge from 35-37 weeks gestation in the human brain." Identification of epidermal progenitors for the Merkel cell lineage "Epithelial stem cells in adult mammalian skin are known to maintain epidermal, follicular and sebaceous lineages during homeostasis. Recently, Merkel cell mechanoreceptors were identified as a fourth lineage derived from the proliferative layer of murine skin epithelium; however, the location of the stem or progenitor population for Merkel cells remains unknown. Here, we have identified a previously undescribed population of epidermal progenitors that reside in the touch domes of hairy skin, termed touch dome progenitor cells (TDPCs)."

More recent papers

This table allows an automated computer search of the external PubMed database using the listed "Search term" text link. This search now requires a manual link as the original PubMed extension has been disabled. The displayed list of references do not reflect any editorial selection of material based on content or relevance. References also appear on this list based upon the date of the actual page viewing. References listed on the rest of the content page and the associated discussion page (listed under the publication year sub-headings) do include some editorial selection based upon both relevance and availability. More? References | Discussion Page | Journal Searches | 2019 References | 2020 References Search term: Touch Development <pubmed limit=5>Touch Development</pubmed>

Touch Receptors

Touch receptors in mammalian skin and the neural encoding of reception.

Pacinian corpuscle

• 

  Pacinian corpuscle (labeled)

• 

  Pacinian corpuscle (unlabeled)

• 

  Pacinian corpuscle (detail)

Meissner's corpuscle

Meissner's corpuscle

Merkel cell

Isolated Merkel cell (em)

Merkel cell (Merkel-Ranvier cell) integumentary (skin) receptor cell connected with somatosensory afferents. Cell characteristics a polylobulated nucleus and numerous typical dense-core granules in a clear cytoplasm. Scale bar 5 µm (Stain - Osmium)

Sensory Modalities

Thermoreceptors

• Receptors for heat (warmth) and cold (chill) detection.
  • heat - C-fibres
  • cold - Aδ fibres

Nociceptors

• Receptors for encoding and processing noxious stimuli.
  • A-δ nociceptors
  • Polymodal C-nociceptors
  • C- mechano-insensitive nociceptors

Abnormalities

Merkel cell carcinoma

References

Reviews

<pubmed>21841076</pubmed> <pubmed>20956378</pubmed>| JCB

Books

Neurobiology of Sensation and Reward. Gottfried JA, editor. Boca Raton (FL): CRC Press; 2011. Chapter 7 - Touch PMID 22593916

Search PubMed

Search Pubmed: Touch Development | touch receptors |

External Links

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Terms

• Georg Meissner - (1829-1905) German histologist, physiologist and anatomist. Beiträge zur Anatomie und Physiologie der Haut. (Contributions to the anatomy and physiology of the skin.) Leipzig, 1853.
• Filippo Pacini - (1812-1883) Italian anatomist, published in 1840, and the name "Pacini's corpuscles" was proposed in 1844 by Henle and also by Kölliker.

Glossary Links

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Cite this page: Hill, M.A. (2024, May 17) Embryology Sensory - Touch Development. Retrieved from https://embryology.med.unsw.edu.au/embryology/index.php/Sensory_-_Touch_Development

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© Dr Mark Hill 2024, UNSW Embryology ISBN: 978 0 7334 2609 4 - UNSW CRICOS Provider Code No. 00098G