Figure 1.

Illustration to demonstrate the morphologies and physiological properties of mammalian Aβ low-threshold mechanoreceptors. In glabrous skin (left side of the illustration), Meissner’s corpuscles are located in the dermal papillae of the dermis, Merkel cells are located in the basal epidermis, Ruffini corpuscles are located in the dermis, and Pacinian corpuscles are located in the dermis, deeper than the other mechanosensory end organs. In hairy skin (right side of the illustration), hair follicles are surrounded by lanceolate endings and Merkel cells. The bottom panel shows the neural activity of different types of Aβ low-threshold mechanoreceptors in response to a sustained stimulus. Meissner’s corpuscle, Pacinian corpuscle and lanceolate ending mechanoreceptors display rapidly adapting mechanosensitive physiological properties, while Merkel cell and Ruffini corpuscle mechanoreceptors display slowly adapting mechanosensitive properties, which fire action potentials (APs) throughout the duration of the stimulus.