Tactile corpuscle

Tactile corpuscles or Meissner's corpuscles are a type of mechanoreceptor discovered by anatomist Georg Meissner (1829–1905) and Rudolf Wagner. This corpuscle is a type of nerve ending in the skin that is responsible for sensitivity to pressure. In particular, they have their highest sensitivity (lowest threshold) when sensing vibrations between 10 and 50 hertz. They are rapidly adaptive receptors. They are most concentrated in thick hairless skin, especially at the finger pads.

Tactile corpuscle
Papilla of the hand, magnified 350 times.
  1. Side view of a papilla of the hand.
    1. Cortical layer.
    2. Tactile corpuscle.
    3. Small nerve of the papilla, with neurolemma.
    4. Its two nerve fibers (axons) running with spiral coils around the tactile corpuscle.
    5. Apparent termination of one of these fibers.
  2. A tactile papilla seen from above so as to show its transverse section.
    1. Cortical layer.
    2. Nerve fiber.
    3. Outer layer of the tactile body, with nuclei.
    4. Clear interior substance.
Details
LocationSkin
Identifiers
Latincorpusculum tactus
THH3.11.06.0.00007
FMA83605
Anatomical terms of microanatomy
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