Ruffini ending

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Ruffini ending
Nerve ending of Ruffini.
Gray's subject #233 1061
Dorlands/Elsevier c_56/12261238

The Ruffini ending or Ruffini corpuscle is a class of slowly adapting mechanoreceptor thought to exist only in the glabrous dermis and subcutaneous tissue of humans. It is named after Angelo Ruffini.

[edit] Function

This spindle-shaped receptor is sensitive to skin stretch, and contributes to the kinesthetic sense of and control of finger position and movement.[1] It is believed to be useful for monitoring slippage of objects along the surface of the skin, allowing modulation of grip on an object.

Ruffini endings are located in the deep layers of the skin, and register mechanical deformation within joints, more specifically angle change, with a specificity of up to 2 degrees, as well as continuous pressure states.[2]

[edit] Footnotes and references

  1. ^ Mountcastle, Vernon C. (2005). The Sensory Hand: Neural Mechanisms of Somatic Sensation. Harvard University Press, pp. 34. 
  2. ^ Hamilton, Nancy (2008). Kinesiology: Scientific Basis of Human Motion. McGraw-Hill, pp. 76-7. 

[edit] External links

  • Paré M, Behets C, Cornu O (2003). "Paucity of presumptive ruffini corpuscles in the index finger pad of humans.". J Comp Neurol 456 (3): 260–6. doi:10.1002/cne.10519. PMID 12528190. 
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Nervous system, receptors: somatosensory system
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