Bcl-2 immunoreactivity in human cutaneous Meissner and Pacinian corpuscles

The occurrence and distribution of Bcl-2, a protein involved in the death-life cell pathways, was investigated in the peripheral sensory nervous system of healthy adult humans, including lumbar dorsal root ganglia, nerve trunks and glabrous skin (to analyze sensory corpuscles) using Western blot and immunohistochemistry. The antibody used labelled a protein of 26 kDa of estimated molecular weight corresponding with Bcl-2. Immunohistochemistry showed that only a neuronal population in dorsal root ganglia, some axons in peripheral nerves and the axon supplying Meissner and Pacinian corpuscles contained Bcl-2, whereas peripheral glial cells (i.e. satellite glial cells, Schwann cell, and lamellar cells of sensory corpuscles) did not. These results suggest that in normal conditions, Bcl-2 is only present in some neuronal, but not glial, elements of the sensory peripheral nervous system. The functional significance, if any, of these results remains to be determined.