Pacinian corpuscle-like structure in the digital tendon sheath and nail bed: a study using late-stage human fetuses

Pacinian corpuscle-like structures were identified in the digital tendon sheaths and nail beds of hands obtained from eight of 12 human fetuses of gestational age 20–34 weeks (crown-rump length, 150–290 mm). The aberrant corpuscles were present in tight fibrous tissue connecting the flexor tendon sheath to the dorsal aponeurosis (138 corpuscles in the thumbs and all fingers of eight fetuses); loose fibrous tissue inside the sheath on the dorsal side of the tendon (37 corpuscles in the thumbs and all fingers of four fetuses); and the nail bed (10 clusters in the thumbs and second fingers of four smaller fetuses). The aberrant corpuscles in the tendon sheath were classified into two types: thin and short, with tightly packed lamellae, of diameter 20–40 µm and length 20–200 µm; and thick and long, with loosely packed lamellae, of diameter 70–150 µm and length 0.5–1.5 mm. The small corpuscles tended to form clusters, each containing 5–10 structures. Their similarity indicated that the tight and loose lamellae in these two types of corpuscles corresponded to typical immature and mature corpuscles, respectively, usually distributed along the palmar digital nerve. However, mature, large corpuscles were absent from the nail bed, and most aberrant corpuscles were smaller than typical corpuscles along the nerve. The aberrant corpuscles were apparently incorporated into the tendon sheath or nail bed during fetal vascular development, but they appeared to degenerate after birth due to mechanical stress from the tendon or nail.