PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Ziolkowski, Luke H.
AU  - Gracheva, Elena O.
AU  - Bagriantsev, Sviatoslav N.
TI  - Mechanotransduction events at the physiological site of touch detection
AID  - 10.1101/2022.10.23.513402
DP  - 2022 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2022.10.23.513402
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/10/24/2022.10.23.513402.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/10/24/2022.10.23.513402.full
AB  - 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. 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.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.