Merkel Cells Activate Sensory Neural Pathways Through Adrenergic Synapses. Hoffman et al

Merkel cells are mechanosensory epidermal cells that have long been proposed to activate neuronal afferents through chemical synaptic transmission. We employed a set of classical criteria for chemical neurotransmission as framework to test this hypothesis.

RNA sequencing of adult mouse Merkel cells demonstrated that they express presynaptic molecules and biosynthetic machinery for adrenergic transmission. Moreover, live-cell imaging directly demonstrated that Merkel cells mediate activity- and VMAT-dependent release of fluorescent catecholamine neurotransmitter analogues. Touch-evoked firing in Merkel-cell afferents was inhibited either by pre-synaptic silencing of SNARE-mediated vesicle release from Merkel cells or by neuronal deletion of beta2-adrenergic receptors.