Ultrastructure of Denervated Receptors

Abstract

The first study on denervated receptors was carried out by Meissner (1855), who proved that the corpuscles described by Wagner and Meissner (1852), change their structure after section of the afferent nerve fibres. The most prominent classic descriptions (Tamura, 1922; Boeke, 1922; Klein, 1932; Dijkstra, 1933) revealed not only the changes in the nerve fibres but also the relationships between receptor structures and their fate during denervation time. Although the opinions concerning the time of receptor preservation were different, most of the authors have concluded that nerve degeneration was followed by a reduction of the inner core and an augmentation in the size of the capsule (Sasybin, 1930; Dijkstra, 1933; Klein, 1932; Quilliam and Armstrong, 1963). The observations on the unencapsulated receptors (Iggo and Muir, 1963; Sabussow and Masslow, 1964) showed that the changes are similar to those described in encapsulated receptors but the process of degeneration was faster and ended with the complete elimination of the sensory nerve organs.