Changes in primate Pacinian corpuscles following volar pad excision and skin grafting. A preliminary report.

Human fingertip avulsion injuries were simulated by excising volar digital pads in stump-tailed monkeys. Half the defects were covered with split-skin grafts from the forearm, and half with full-thickness grafts of fingertip skin. Innervated pacinian corpuscles were found in the center of these grafts 3 months after the operation. The site of origin of these corpuscles is undefined. Denervation and devascularization of pacinian corpuscles resulted in alterations of their gross architecture, size, and innervation. The possibility exists that these alterations result from a dynamic adaptation of pacinian corpuscles to environmental stress.