Pacinian corpuscles. small oval bodies terminating some of the minute branches of the sensory nerves in the skin of the fingers, mesentery, integument and other parts of the body; the corpuscula lamellosa; called also Vater's corpuscles and Vater-Pacini corpuscles.

What's a Pacinian corpuscle?

A Pacinian corpuscle is an onion-shaped structure of nonneural (connective) tissue built up around the nerve ending that reduces the mechanical sensitivity of the nerve terminal itself.

What is the main function of Pacinian corpuscles?

Function. Pacinian corpuscles are rapidly adapting (phasic) receptors that detect gross pressure changes and vibrations in the skin. Any deformation in the corpuscle causes action potentials to be generated by opening pressure-sensitive sodium ion channels in the axon membrane.