ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2016
Merkel disc is a serotonergic synapse in the epidermis for transmitting tactile signals in mammals.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 61 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
61 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 85 citations in OpenAlex.
- The interplay between epidermal cells and the cutaneous sensory nervous: a systematic review.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Pooled it
- A Bioinspired, Multimodal Soft Tactile Skin with Task-Adaptive Perception for Intelligent Robotic Manipulation.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Peripheral mechanisms of tactile sensation in fish.Current opinion in neurobiology · 2026Review
- Massively parallel in-sensor skinomorphic computing.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Choline acetyltransferase as a marker for Merkel cells in mucosal and skin tissues.Journal of oral biosciences · 2026Article
- Cellular and molecular changes in the skin driving increased nociception and pain during burn injury and repair.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Role of BK channels and Kv4.2 channels in the electrophysiological properties of Merkel cells in rat whisker hair follicles.Journal of neurophysiology · 2025Article
- Flexible Tactile Sensing Systems: Challenges in Theoretical Research Transferring to Practical Applications.Nano-micro letters · 2025Review
- Merkel cell stimulation in fear and sensory signaling.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2025Article
- The inner core enables transient touch detection in the Pacinian corpuscle.Science advances · 2025Article
- Research Progress on Neural Processing of Hand and Forearm Tactile Sensation: A Review Based on fMRI Research.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2025Review
- A helping hand: roles for accessory cells in the sense of touch across species.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2024Review
- Thermosensation and TRP Channels.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2024Review
- How Merkel cells transduce mechanical stimuli: A biophysical model of Merkel cells.PLoS computational biology · 2023Article
- Mechanical stimulation of human hair follicle outer root sheath cultures activates adjacent sensory neurons.Science advances · 2023Article
- 3D architecture and a bicellular mechanism of touch detection in mechanosensory corpuscle.Science advances · 2023Article
- Article
- Intestinal enteroendocrine cells rely on ryanodine and IPThe Journal of physiology · 2023Article
- Morphological Configuration of Sensory Biomedical Receptors Based on Structures Integrated by Electric Circuits and Utilizing Magnetic-Responsive Hybrid Fluid (HF).Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Reducing Merkel cell activity in the whisker follicle disrupts cortical encoding of whisker movement amplitude and velocity.IBRO neuroscience reports · 2022Article
1 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
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Abstract
The evolution of sensory systems has let mammals develop complicated tactile end organs to enable sophisticated sensory tasks, including social interaction, environmental exploration, and tactile discrimination. The Merkel disc, a main type of tactile end organ consisting of Merkel cells (MCs) and Aβ-afferent endings, are highly abundant in fingertips, touch domes, and whisker hair follicles of mammals. The Merkel disc has high tactile acuity for an object's physical features, such as texture, shape, and edges. Mechanisms underlying the tactile function of Merkel discs are obscured as to how MCs transmit tactile signals to Aβ-afferent endings leading to tactile sensations. Using mouse whisker hair follicles, we show herein that tactile stimuli are transduced by MCs into excitatory signals that trigger vesicular serotonin release from MCs. We identify that both ionotropic and metabotropic 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) receptors are expressed on whisker Aβ-afferent endings and that their activation by serotonin released from MCs initiates Aβ-afferent impulses. Moreover, we demonstrate that these ionotropic and metabotropic 5-HT receptors have a synergistic effect that is critical to both electrophysiological and behavioral tactile responses. These findings elucidate that the Merkel disc is a unique serotonergic synapse located in the epidermis and plays a key role in tactile transmission. The epidermal serotonergic synapse may have important clinical implications in sensory dysfunctions, such as the loss of tactile sensitivity and tactile allodynia seen in patients who have diabetes, inflammatory diseases, and undergo chemotherapy. It may also have implications in the exaggerated tactile sensations induced by recreational drugs that act on serotoninergic synapses.
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