THE SENSORY CORPUSCLES IN COMMON CHIMPANZEE DIGITAL GLABROUS SKIN

Resumen

The chimpanzee is the living specie closest to hu-mans both in morphology and genetics. Actuallythere are two species of chimpanzees:Pan troglodytes and Pan paniscus. Touch sense isan essential toll in animal survival, and mutualbody contact is key to develop social links. Thestudy was aimed to describe the morphology andthe immunohistochemical profile of cutaneousMeissner and Pacinian corpuscles from Pan trog-lodytes. Skin samples were obtained from the pal-mar side of the distal phalanx of hand fingers of necropsies of naturally dead chimpanzees donatedby Spanish zoos. Sections from paraffin-embedded material were processed for structuraland immunohistochemical techniques, using a bat-tery of antibodies directed against specific axonal(N4142 anti-neurofilaments) or Schwann-like cells(S100 protein) of sensory corpuscles. The generalaspect of the tissue were very different to the otherprimates previously studied (Macaca fascicularis)but with the usual fibrous consistency present inother monkeys. The number of Meissner corpus-cles were few and the size big compared toMacaca fascicularis and similar to humans. Wefound positive immunolabelling for S100 proteinand N4142 neurofilament. Related with Paciniancorpuscles, they are of big size and the shape isdifferent to other previously studied. They show agross capsule that was immunoreactive for asmooth muscle marker. This work belongs to aseries of compared anatomy studies in primates.Our work report for the first time detailed images ofsensory corpuscles Pan troglodytes digital gla-brous skin, the living specie closest to humans.