Mechanotransduction events at the physiological site of touch detection

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Abstract

Afferents of peripheral mechanoreceptors innervate the skin of vertebrates, where they detect physical touch via mechanically gated ion channels (mechanotransducers). While the afferent terminal is generally understood to be the primary site of mechanotransduction, the functional properties of mechanically activated (MA) ionic current generated by mechanotransducers at this location remain obscure. Until now, direct evidence of MA current and mechanically induced action potentials in the mechanoreceptor terminal has not been obtained. Here, we report patch-clamp recordings from the afferent terminal innervating Grandry (Meissner) corpuscles in the bill skin of a tactile specialist duck. We show that mechanical stimulation evokes MA current in the afferent with fast kinetics of activation and inactivation during the dynamic phases of the mechanical stimulus. These responses trigger rapidly adapting firing in the afferent detected at the terminal and in the afferent fiber outside of the corpuscle. Our findings elucidate the initial electrogenic events of touch detection in the mechanoreceptor nerve terminal.

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All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting file; Source Data files have been provided for Figures 1 and 2.

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Luke H Ziolkowski

Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Yale University, New Haven, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-3420-6782
Elena O Gracheva

Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Yale University, New Haven, United States

For correspondence
elena.gracheva@yale.edu

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-0846-3427
Sviatoslav N Bagriantsev

Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Yale University, New Haven, United States

For correspondence
slav.bagriantsev@yale.edu

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-6661-3403

Funding

National Science Foundation (1923127)

Sviatoslav N Bagriantsev

National Science Foundation (2114084)

Sviatoslav N Bagriantsev

National Science Foundation (1754286)

Elena O Gracheva

National Institutes of Health (R01NS097547)

Sviatoslav N Bagriantsev

National Institutes of Health (R01NS126277)

Sviatoslav N Bagriantsev

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Ethics

Animal experimentation: Experiments with duck embryos (Anas platyrhynchos domesticus) were approved by and performed in accordance with guidelines of the Institutional Animal Case and Use Committee of Yale University, protocol 11526.

Copyright

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.