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Cutaneous Receptors

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The Peripheral Nervous System

Abstract

The skin is richly innervated with axons of afferent nerve fibers, estimates of the numbers ranging around 1 million. The density of innervation is, however, quite variable; most of the afferent fibers terminate in the face or the extremities, with relatively few supplying the dorsal surface of the trunk. The structure of the skin of the face and extremities, as well as the degree of specialization of the receptors, is also more complex. Glabrous or hairless skin occurs at these places, and complex hair follicles (sinus hairs) are present in the face of many mammals. Structural features of glabrous skin, in addition to the thickening of the epidermis, are a regular epidermal ridge formation, associated with uniformly organized nerve supply, and the presence of complex encapsulated sensory receptors in regular arrays and with sweat glands. Hairy skin, in contrast, has as its dominant feature hair follicles of several kinds often arrayed in regular patterns. In hairy skin, the majority of the sensory receptors are integral parts of the hair follicles or other organized, but less numerous, receptors, and most afferent nerve fibers end either in the hair follicles or close to the basal layer of the epidermis. Some nerves penetrate the basement membrane of the epithelium to end closer to the skin surface, but these are found in highly specialized skin, such as Eimer’s organs in the snout of the mole. Nerves ending within the basement membrane of the epidermis include the distinctive Merkel disc, which is associated with Merkel’s cell. Nonmyelinated fibers and specialized small myelinated axons also end on the epidermal side of the basement membrane, or close to it (Cauna, 1969). As a general feature, sensory receptors do not penetrate deeply into the epidermis, and when they are present the epidermis itself may be thickened and specialized. Many receptors lie just beneath the basement membrane or within 100–200μm of it, although isolated larger receptor structures such as the Pacinian corpuscle and Ruffini ending, may be more deeply located in the corium.

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  1. Department of Veterinary Physiology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland

    Ainsley Iggo

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  1. Department of Physiology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

    John I. Hubbard

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Iggo, A. (1974). Cutaneous Receptors. In: Hubbard, J.I. (eds) The Peripheral Nervous System. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-8699-9_14

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