Occurrence of mechanoproteins in cutaneous mechanoreceptors of Maccaca fasciculata

Resumen

Mechanotransduction is the conversion of a mechanicalstimulus into an electrical signal. In mammals the cutaneousmechanosensitive structures are special sensory organs knowncollectively as mechanoreceptors. despite efforts to discovermolecules that initiate touch sensation only recently it hasbeen suggested that different types of ion channels are direct-ly activated by mechanical stimuli. acid-sensing ion channels(asICs) and transient receptor potential vanilloid 4(trpv4) mediate different sensory modalities, includingmechanosensation. In the present study we investigated thedistribution of asIC2 and trpv4 proteins in cutaneouspacinian corpuscles and meissner corpuscles of Maccaca fasci-culata using immunohistochemistry for asIC2 and trpv4,together with neuron-specific enolase and s-100 protein, andlaser confocal-scanner microscopy. asIC2 and trpv4 weredetected in both meissner and pacinian corpuscles. asIC2was found co-localized with neuronal markers but notschwann cell-related markers demonstrating that asIC2expression is restricted to axons supplying mechanoreceptors.trpv4 immunoreactivity was found to co-localize with neu-ronal markers, but also with schwann related cell markers,thus being present in all cells forming the mechanoreceptors.the present results demonstrate for the first time the occur-rence of mechanoproteins in Maccaca fasciculata low-thresholdmechanoreceptors and provide evidences for a possible role ofthese ion channels in mechanosensation.