Merkel's Disks

Intro | Free Nerve Endings | Meissner's Corpuscle | Merkel's Disks | Pacinian Corpuscle | Ruffini Corpuscles | Subcutaneus Fat | Sweat Gland

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Merkel's Disks are located superficially in the dermis of skin at the base of the epidermis, and lie adjacent to Meissner's corpuscles and sweat glands. These receptors respond to indentation of the skin. They adapt slowly to pressure, and therefore record the sustained presence of pressure on the skin.

Psychophysical studies of pain receptors (Darian-Smith, 1984) indicate that the peak sensitivity of these receptors is to vibrations at approximately 40 Hertz and below. Merkel's disks are slow adapting receptors with small receptive fields. They adapt, however, a little faster than Ruffini endings, the other slowly adapting skin receptor.

Darian-Smith, I (Ed.). (1984). The handbook of physiology: sensory processes (Volume III, Parts 1 and 2). The American Physiological Society.