A finite-element model of mechanosensation by a Pacinian corpuscle cluster in human skin

Quindlen, Julia C.; Barocas, Victor H.

doi:10.1007/s10237-018-1011-1

Cited by 15 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 79 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In many cases the complexity of skin has made it difficult to understand the strain field. While useful models have been created (Lesniak and Gerling, 2009;Quindlen et al, 2015;Quindlen-Hotek and Barocas, 2018;Sanzeni et al, 2018), few studies build on these models to generate an integrated understanding of how mechanical strain is detected by mechanosensitive proteins, including ion channels, distributed within somatosensory neurons.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Progressive recruitment of distal MEC-4 channels determines touch response strength inC. elegans

Katta

Sanzeni

Das

et al. 2019

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Through experiment and simulation, Katta, et al. reveal that pushing faster and deeper recruits more and more distant mechano-electrical transduction channels during touch. The net result is a dynamic receptive field whose size and shape depends on tissue mechanics, stimulus parameters, and channel distribution within sensory neurons. AbstractTouch deforms, or strains, the skin beyond the immediate point of contact. The spatiotemporal nature of the strain field induced by touch depends on the mechanical properties of the skin and the tissues below. Somatosensory neurons that sense touch often innervate large regions of skin and rely on a set of mechano-electrical transduction channels distributed within their dendrites to detect mechanical stimuli. We sought to understand how tissue mechanics shape touch-induced mechanical strain across the skin over time and how individual channels located in different regions of the strain field contribute to the overall touch response. We leveraged C. elegans' touch receptor neurons (TRNs) as a morphologically simple model and employed an integrated experimental-computational approach. Measuring mechanoreceptor currents (MRCs) in TRNs and performing biophysical modeling enabled us to dissect the mechanisms underlying the spatial and temporal dynamics that we observed. Consistent with the idea that strain is produced at a distance, we were able to elicit MRCs by delivering stimuli outside the anatomical receptive field. The amplitude and kinetics of the MRCs depended on both stimulus displacement and speed. Finally, we found that the main factor responsible for touch sensitivity is the recruitment of progressively more distant channels by stronger stimuli, rather than modulation of channel open probability. This principle may generalize to somatosensory neurons with more complex morphologies.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Progressive recruitment of distal MEC-4 channels determines touch response strength inC. elegans

Katta

Sanzeni

Das

et al. 2019

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…was not accounted for in the corpuscle-only simulations. In particular, the distance between the stimulus and the corpuscle could not be controlled in Gregory's experiments [41], leading to potential attenuation of signal [17,42]. Accounting for the surrounding tissue in our computational model would better match the simulated tuning curve for the duck HC to the published experimental results shown in figure 3.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Given the wide range of lamellar corpuscle size, structure and function across species, one must ask how the size and structure vary, and what the functional consequences of this variation are. Thus, the goal of this study was to use our previously published theoretical model of the PC [15][16][17] to predict functional differences among lamellar corpuscles of different species based on structural differences. A literature search was performed to obtain lamellar corpuscle outer core structural parameters.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An inter-species computational analysis of vibrotactile sensitivity in Pacinian and Herbst corpuscles

et al. 2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Vibration sensing is ubiquitous among vertebrates, with the sensory end organ generally being a multilayered ellipsoidal structure. There is, however, a wide range of sizes and structural arrangements across species. In this work, we applied our earlier computational model of the Pacinian corpuscle to predict the sensory response of different species to various stimulus frequencies, and based on the results, we identified the optimal frequency for vibration sensing and the bandwidth over which frequencies should be most detectable. We found that although the size and layering of the corpuscles were very different, almost all of the 19 species studied showed very similar sensitivity ranges. The human and goose were the notable exceptions, with their corpuscle tuned to higher frequencies (130–170 versus 40–50 Hz). We observed no correlation between animal size and any measure of corpuscle geometry in our model. Based on the results generated by our computational model, we hypothesize that lamellar corpuscles across different species may use different sizes and structures to achieve similar frequency detection bands.

show abstract

“…[26] The excellent tactile performance of fingers is attributed to the gradient Young's modulus distribution and mechanoreceptors from top to bottom of the dermis. [27,28] The fast-adapting receptors (such as Merkel disk receptor and Meissner corpuscle) are located on the top of the dermis with soft and low modulus response sensitively to low-pressure stimuli. The slowly adapting receptors (such as Pacinian corpuscle) are situated in the deep dermis with the tough and high modulus response to the higher-pressure stimuli ( Figure 1A).…”

Section: Doi: 101002/adma202008486mentioning

confidence: 99%

Electric‐Field‐Induced Gradient Ionogels for Highly Sensitive, Broad‐Range‐Response, and Freeze/Heat‐Resistant Ionic Fingers

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Human fingers exhibit both high sensitivity and wide tactile range. The finger skin structures are designed to display gradient microstructures and compressibility. Inspired by the gradient mechanical Young's modulus distribution, an electric-field-induced cationic crosslinker migration strategy is demonstrated to prepare gradient ionogels. Due to the gradient of the crosslinkers, the ionogels exhibit more than four orders of magnitude difference between the anode and the cathode side, enabling gradient ionogelbased flexible iontronic sensors having high-sensitivity and broader-range detection (from 3 × 10 2 to 2.5 × 10 6 Pa) simultaneously. Moreover, owing to the remarkable properties of the gradient ionogels, the flexible iontronic sensors also show good long-time stability (even after 10 000 cycles loadings) and excellent performance over a wide temperature range (from −108 to 300 °C). The flexible iontronic sensors are further integrated on soft grips, exhibiting remarkable performance under various conditions. These attractive features demonstrate that gradient ionogels will be promising candidates for smart sensor applications in complex and extreme conditions.

show abstract

A finite-element model of mechanosensation by a Pacinian corpuscle cluster in human skin

Cited by 15 publications

References 79 publications

Progressive recruitment of distal MEC-4 channels determines touch response strength inC. elegans

Progressive recruitment of distal MEC-4 channels determines touch response strength inC. elegans

An inter-species computational analysis of vibrotactile sensitivity in Pacinian and Herbst corpuscles

Electric‐Field‐Induced Gradient Ionogels for Highly Sensitive, Broad‐Range‐Response, and Freeze/Heat‐Resistant Ionic Fingers

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About