Lamellar cells of sensory receptors and perineural cells of nerve endings of pig skin contain cytokeratins

Summary The lamellar cells of the sensory corpuscles of the pig dermis must be considered to be epithelial cells as they contain cytokeratins. The cytokeratins detected are similar to those found in simple epithelia. Moreover, lamellar cells are embedded in an extracellular matrix reminiscent of the basement membrane of epithelium since it contains laminin and collagen IV. The perineural cells surrounding the nerves of pig dermis present the same features.These results suggest that lamellar cells and perineural cells have the same origin. The nature of the lamellar and perineural cells of the rabbit or human dermis is not as clear since cytokeratins were not detected in those cells. These results, together with recent observations on Merkel cells, may indicate that epithelio-neuronal junctions are a general feature of cutaneous sensory receptors.