Three-dimensional analyses of touch domes in the hairy skin of the cat paw reveal morphological substrates for complex sensory processing

Ebara, Satomi; Kumamoto, Kenzo; Baumann, Klaus I.; Halata, Zdeněk

doi:10.1016/j.neures.2008.02.004

Cited by 23 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…The number of terminal neurites emanating from each heminode was broadly distributed (Figure 2A). Most Merkel cells were arranged individually on terminal neurites (70%, N = 165, Figure 2B,C), although chains of three or more Merkel cells along individual neurites were occasionally observed (Figure 2B,D; Ebara et al, 2008). As with terminal neurites, the number of Merkel cell–neurite complexes per heminode was broadly distributed (Figure 2E).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Computation identifies structural features that govern neuronal firing properties in slowly adapting touch receptors

Lesniak

Marshall

Wellnitz

et al. 2014

eLife

126

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Touch is encoded by cutaneous sensory neurons with diverse morphologies and physiological outputs. How neuronal architecture influences response properties is unknown. To elucidate the origin of firing patterns in branched mechanoreceptors, we combined neuroanatomy, electrophysiology and computation to analyze mouse slowly adapting type I (SAI) afferents. These vertebrate touch receptors, which innervate Merkel cells, encode shape and texture. SAI afferents displayed a high degree of variability in touch-evoked firing and peripheral anatomy. The functional consequence of differences in anatomical architecture was tested by constructing network models representing sequential steps of mechanosensory encoding: skin displacement at touch receptors, mechanotransduction and action-potential initiation. A systematic survey of arbor configurations predicted that the arrangement of mechanotransduction sites at heminodes is a key structural feature that accounts in part for an afferent’s firing properties. These findings identify an anatomical correlate and plausible mechanism to explain the driver effect first described by Adrian and Zotterman.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.01488.001

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Computation identifies structural features that govern neuronal firing properties in slowly adapting touch receptors

Lesniak

Marshall

Wellnitz

et al. 2014

eLife

126

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“…A single cluster can have as many as 150 Merkel cells, with a single Aβ SAI-LTMR fiber supplying as many as 15 Merkel cells. Therefore, two or more axons can supply any given touch dome, with a single SAI-LTMR branching to supply at many as seven separate clusters within glabrous skin (Ebara et al, 2008; Pare et al, 2002; Woodbury and Koerber, 2007). The anatomical density of Merkel cell-neurite complexes and their intricate innervation patterns is related to our remarkable capacity for tactile discrimination and the ability of SAI-LTMRs to resolve spatial detail smaller than their anatomical receptive field diameters (Vega-Bermudez and Johnson, 1999).…”

Section: Part I: Anatomical and Physiological Properties Of Low-thresmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Sensory Neurons of Touch

Abraira

Ginty

2013

Neuron

1,245

1,205

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The somatosensory system decodes a wide range of tactile stimuli and thus endows us with a remarkable capacity for object recognition, texture discrimination, sensory-motor feedback and social exchange. The first step leading to perception of innocuous touch is activation of cutaneous sensory neurons called low-threshold mechanoreceptors (LTMRs). Here, we review the properties and functions of LTMRs, emphasizing the unique tuning properties of LTMR subtypes and the organizational logic of their peripheral and central axonal projections. We discuss the spinal cord neurophysiological representation of complex mechanical forces acting upon the skin and current views of how tactile information is processed and conveyed from the spinal cord to the brain. An integrative model in which ensembles of impulses arising from physiologically distinct LTMRs are integrated and processed in somatotopically aligned mechanosensory columns of the spinal cord dorsal horn underlies the nervous system’s enormous capacity for perceiving the richness of the tactile world.

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“…The properties of the mechanical skin structure are similar to those of a bi-layers system with a more elastic surface layer and more viscous deep layer that indicate skin mechanical anisotropy (Ebara et al, 2008). Tree-like branched nerve¯ber endings were found inside the skin matrix (Boulais & Misery, 2008).…”

Section: An Integrative Framework Of the Skin Receptors Activation 51mentioning

confidence: 95%

An integrative framework of the skin receptors activation: Mechanoreceptors activity patterns versus "labeled lines"

Zeveke¹,

Efes²,

Polevaya³

2013

J. Integr. Neurosci.

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The paper presents a review of electrophysiological data which indicate the integrative mechanisms of information coded in the human and animal peripheral skin receptors. The activity of the skin sensory receptors was examined by applying various natural stimuli. It was revealed that numerous identical receptors respond to various stimuli (mechanical, temperature, and pain ones), but the spike patterns of these receptors were found to be specific for each stimulus. The description of characteristic structures of spike patterns in the cutaneous nerve fibers in response to five major modalities, namely: "touch", "pain", "vibration/breath", "cold", and "heat", is being presented. The recordings of the cutaneous physical state revealed a correlation between the patterns of spatiotemporal skin deformation and the receptors activity. A rheological state of the skin can be changed either in response to external temperature variation or by the sympathetic pilomotor activation. These results indicate that the skin sensory receptors activity may be considered as an integrative process. It depends not only on the receptors themselves, but also on the changes in the surrounding tissue and on the adaptive influence of the central nervous system. A new framework for the sensory channel system related to the skin is proposed on the basis of experimental results.

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Three-dimensional analyses of touch domes in the hairy skin of the cat paw reveal morphological substrates for complex sensory processing

Cited by 23 publications

References 19 publications

Computation identifies structural features that govern neuronal firing properties in slowly adapting touch receptors

Computation identifies structural features that govern neuronal firing properties in slowly adapting touch receptors

The Sensory Neurons of Touch

An integrative framework of the skin receptors activation: Mechanoreceptors activity patterns versus "labeled lines"

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