Figure 3.

Representative images of dermal histology in 50 µm thick immuno-stained sections. (A) A Meissner corpuscle located in the dermal papilla. The characteristic winding-like structure of the Meissner corpuscle is formed by axons (red, protein gene product, PGP9.5) and it is innervated by a myelinated fibre (green, myelin basic protein, MBP). Nuclei are stained in blue (DAPI). (B) Example of a Merkel cell complex (red, PGP9.5) located at the base of the epidermis and innervated from fibres originating from the subepidermal plexus (bottom). (C) Representative images of the quantified dermal axon bundles containing more than five axons (red, PGP9.5) in the same section. Whereas the bundle on the top only contains unmyelinated fibres, on the bottom is an example of a dermal nerve bundle that contains two myelinated fibres (green, MBP). Calibration of 50 µm applies throughout. (D) Graph shows a comparable amount of Meissner corpuscles per mm epidermis in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome and controls participants. Data are shown as mean and single data points, P = 0.28. (E) Graph shows comparable percentage of dermal PGP bundles containing MBP-positive fibres between patients with carpal tunnel syndrome and control participants. Plot depicts median and single data points, P = 0.38.