Fig. 7. Schematic summary of the functional and morphological diversity of sensory Schwann cells.

Top Sox10 cells are morphologically and functionally diverse. Sox10 cells, in yellow, are found associated with Meissner’s corpuscle receptors (left) and show medium coupling (~50% connectivity) that is fast i.e. responses with milliseconds of activation of the Scwann cell. In addition, almost all nociceptor subtypes show medium to very high coupling (~100% coupling in the case of polymodal C-fibers) with Sox10+ cells associated with free nerve endings. Bottom panel illustrates connectivity of Sox2 cells which are only found associated with low threshold mechanoreceptors (LTMRs). Connectivity was always low (i.e. long latency responses in sensory neurons to optogenetic activation of Sox2 cells). The connectivity was seen in almost all Rapidly adapting LTMRs associated with Meissner’s corpuscles and with Slowly-adapting LTMRs associated with Merkel cells. This schematic figure was created with BioRender.com.