Concept
Version 8
Created by Boundless
Somatosensory Receptors
Primary mechanoreceptors
Four of the primary mechanoreceptors in human skin are shown. Merkel's disks, which are unencapsulated, respond to light touch. Meissner's corpuscles, Ruffini endings, Pacinian corpuscles, and Krause end bulbs are all encapsulated. Meissner's corpuscles respond to touch and low-frequency vibration. Ruffini endings detect stretch, deformation within joints, and warmth. Pacinian corpuscles detect transient pressure and high-frequency vibration. Krause end bulbs detect cold.
Source
Boundless vets and curates high-quality, openly licensed content from around the Internet. This particular resource used the following sources:
"OpenStax College, Somatosensation. October 17, 2013."
http://cnx.org/content/m44757/latest/Figure_36_02_02.png
OpenStax CNX
CC BY 3.0.