Sensory innervation of the mystacial pad fur of the ferret.
The guard and vellus hairs on the muzzles of many mammalian species possess a complex sensory innervation. The observation in the primate that the sources of the endings may be segregated by afferent type to separate terminal nerve branches prompted us to examine the innervation of the mystacial fur on the ferret muzzle. Sections were prepared with reduced silver techniques and serially reconstructed for analysis. The types and orientations of sensory endings in the ferret are similar to those described for the primate. However, we found that any terminal nerve branch could be composed of the full set of afferent types and therefore, there was no consistent segregation. The implications of these results on the afferent to target specificity during development and on multiple cortical representations are discussed.
Mosconi
T M
TM
Department of Anatomy, Cell Biology and Neurobiology, Albany Medical College, NY 12208.
Rice
F L
FL
D000818:Animals; D005145:Face / Q000294:innervation; D005289:Ferrets; D006197:Hair / Q000502:physiology; D006651:Histocytochemistry; D009411:Nerve Endings / Q000502:physiology; D009475:Neurons, Afferent / Q000502:physiology*; D012867:Skin / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000294:innervation*; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D013194:Staining and Labeling