Proprioceptive innervation of the human lips

Abstract

The objective of this study was to analyze the proprioceptive innervation of human lips, especially of the orbicularis oris muscle, since it is classically accepted that facial muscles lack typical proprioceptors, that is, muscle spindles, but recently this has been doubted. Upper and lower human lips (n = 5) from non‐embalmed frozen cadavers were immunostained for detection of S100 protein (to identify nerves and sensory nerve formations), myosin heavy chain (to label muscle fibers within muscle spindles), and the mechano‐gated ion channel PIEZO2. No muscle spindles were found, but there was a high density of sensory nerve formations, which were morphologically heterogeneous, and in some cases resemble Ruffini‐like and Pacinian sensory corpuscles. The axons of these sensory formations displayed immunoreactivity for PIEZO2. Human lip muscles lack typical proprioceptors but possess a dense sensory innervation which can serve the lip proprioception.