View source for Meissner's corpuscles

'''Meissner's corpuscles''' are a type of mechanoreceptor discovered by anatomist Georg Meissner ({{LifeData|1829|1905}}) and Rudolf Wagner.<ref name="meissner1905">{{REFweb
 |url=https://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/3236.html
 |title=Georg Meissner
 |last=
 |first=
 |accessdate=2020-10-21
}}</ref><ref name="paré2001">{{REFjournal
 |last=Paré
 |first=Michel
 |init=M
 |author-link=
 |last2=Elde
 |first2=Robert
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 |last3=Mazurkiewicz
 |first3=Joseph E.
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 |init4=AM
 |author4-link=
 |last5=Rice 
 |first5=Frank L.
 |init5=FL
 |author5-link=
 |etal=no
 |title=The Meissner Corpuscle Revised: A Multiafferented Mechanoreceptor with Nociceptor Immunochemical Properties
 |trans-title=
 |language=English
 |journal=J Neurosci
 |location=
 |date=2001-09-15
 |volume=21
 |issue=18
 |pages=7236-46
 |url=https://www.jneurosci.org/content/21/18/7236.full
 |archived=
 |quote=
 |pubmedID=11549734
 |pubmedCID=6763005
 |DOI=10.1523/JNEUROSCI.21-18-07236.2001 
 |accessdate=2020-10-21
}}</ref>

They are a type of nerve ending in the [[skin]] that is responsible for sensitivity to light touch. 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.

==Description==

Meissner's corpuscles are encapsulated, unmyelinated nerve endings, surrounded by Schwann cells. The encapsulation consists of flattened supportive cells arranged as horizontal lamellae surrounded by a connective tissue capsule. They are found in abundance in the human [[foreskin]].<ref name="winkleman1956">{{REFjournal
 |last=Winkelmann
 |first=
 |init=RK
 |author-link=
 |etal=no
 |title=The cutaneous innervation of human newborn prepuce
 |trans-title=
 |language=
 |journal=J Invest Dermatol
 |location=
 |date=1956-01
 |volume=26
 |issue=1
 |article=
 |page=
 |pages=53-67
 |url=https://www.jidonline.org/article/S0022-202X(15)48804-9/pdf
 |archived=
 |quote=
 |pubmedID=13295637
 |pubmedCID=
 |DOI=10.1038/jid.1956.5
 |doi=
 |format=PDF
 |accessdate=2023-07-12
}}</ref> <ref name="garcía-mesa2021">{{REFjournal
 |last=García-Mesa
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 |init=
 |author-link=
 |last2=García-Piqueras
 |first2=Jorge
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 |author2-link=
 |last3=Cobo
 |first3=Ramón
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 |last4=Martín-Cruces
 |first4=José
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 |first5=Iván
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 |first8=Vega
 |init8=José A.
 |author8-link=
 |etal=no
 |title=Sensory innervation of the human male prepuce: Meissner's corpuscles predominate
 |trans-title=
 |language=
 |journal=Journal of Anatomy
 |location=
 |date=2021-10
 |volume=239
 |issue=4
 |article=
 |page=
 |pages=892-902
 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/joa.13481
 |archived=
 |quote=
 |pubmedID=34120333
 |pubmedCID=8450466
 |DOI=10.1111/joa.13481 
 |accessdate=2021-11-15
}}</ref>

==Location==

They are distributed on various areas of the [[skin]], but concentrated in areas especially sensitive to light touch, such as the fingers and lips. More specifically, they are primarily located in glabrous (non-hair bearing) [[skin]] just beneath the epidermis within the dermal papillae.

Taylor, Lockwood, & Taylor (1996) carried out a gross and histological examination of the [[foreskin| prepuce]]. They reported that numerous Meissner's corpuscles are found in a [[ridged band]] area where the Meissner corpuscles are found near the tops of the ridges.<ref name="taylor1996">{{TaylorJR LockwoodAP TaylorAJ 1996}}</ref> 

Cold & Taylor (1999) describe the innervation of the prepuce as follows:
<blockquote>
Although the sensory and autonomic innervation of the penis and [[clitoris]] are similar, there is a remarkable difference in their encapsulated somatosensory receptors. Sensory receptors can be classiﬁed as mechanoreceptors, e.g. Meissner’s corpuscles, Vater-Pacinian corpuscles and Merkel cells; and nocioceptors (free nerve endings). A multitude of names have
been used to describe these encapsulated receptors, e.g. Krause, Dogiel, genital corpuscles, Endkalpsen and muco-cutaneous end-organs, but the term corpuscular (encapsulated) receptors will be used here to include all of these mechanoreceptors. Most of the encapsulated receptors of the prepuce are Meissner corpuscles, as they contact the epithelial basement membrane.<ref name="cold-taylor1999">{{ColdCJ TaylorJR 1999}}</ref>
</blockquote>

==Sensation==

Winkelmann (1959) identified the [[Foreskin| prepuce]] and the [[glans penis]] (where Meissner's corpuscles are found) as ''specific erogenous zones''.<ref name="winklemann1959">{{WinkelmannRK 1959}}</ref>

Sorrells et al. (2007) used a Semmes-Weinstein monofilament touch-test to map the fine-touch pressure thresholds of the [[penis]]. The areas most sensitive to fine-touch were the tip of the [[foreskin]] the mucocutaneous junction, the [[ridged band]], and the [[frenulum]]. These areas correspond to the location of Meissner's corpuscles. (These areas are not found on the [[circumcised]] [[penis]].)<ref name="sorrells2007">{{Sorrells etal 2007}}</ref>

Most [[intact]] men note that movement of the [[foreskin]] produces a pleasurable sensation.<ref name="garcía-mesa2021" /><ref name="berkeley1993">{{REFbook
 |last=Berkeley
 |first=Bud
 |init=B
 |title=[[Foreskin: A Closer Look]]
 |year=1993
 |publisher=Alyson Books
 |isbn=978-1555832124
}}</ref>

{{SEEALSO}}
* [[Foreskin sensitivity]]

{{LINKS}}
* {{REFdocument
 |title=Meissner's Tactile Corpuscle
 |trans-title=
 |language=English
 |url=https://www.anatomyatlases.org/MicroscopicAnatomy/Section06/Plate06123.shtml
 |archived=
 |contribution=
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 |last=Bergman 
 |first=Ronald A.
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 |last3=Heidger
 |first3=Paul M.
 |author3-link=
 |publisher=Anatomy Atlases
 |location=
 |format=
 |date=
 |accessdate=2020-10-27
}}
* {{REFweb
 |url=https://intactamerica.org/what-do-the-eyelids-lips-fingertips-the-intact-penis-have-in-common/
 |title=What Do The Eyelids, Lips, Fingertips & The Intact Penis Have in Common?
 |last=Anonymous
 |first=
 |init=
 |publisher=Intact America
 |date=2024-02-17
 |accessdate=2024-02-18
}}

{{REF}}


[[Category:Education]]
[[Category:Physiology]]
[[Category:Male sexuality]]