The Hydrodynamic Sensory System in the Skin of Cetaceans
The skin’s sensory afferents have a myriad of varieties, tactile functions and specialized end‐organ receptors enabling species to exploit ecological niches. In typical vertebrate skin, from fish to humans, axons innervate relatively small discreet receptive fields, providing fine‐scale discriminati...
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crwiley:10.1096/fasebj.2020.34.s1.00356 2024-06-02T08:10:21+00:00 The Hydrodynamic Sensory System in the Skin of Cetaceans Eldridge, Sherri Mortazavi, Farzad Rosene, Douglas 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1096/fasebj.2020.34.s1.00356 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor The FASEB Journal volume 34, issue S1, page 1-1 ISSN 0892-6638 1530-6860 journal-article 2020 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1096/fasebj.2020.34.s1.00356 2024-05-03T10:48:19Z The skin’s sensory afferents have a myriad of varieties, tactile functions and specialized end‐organ receptors enabling species to exploit ecological niches. In typical vertebrate skin, from fish to humans, axons innervate relatively small discreet receptive fields, providing fine‐scale discrimination of texture or location of a pin prick. The cetacean suborders of Mysticeti (baleen) and Odontoceti (toothed) whales are fully‐aquatic glabrous‐skinned mammals, descendants of terrestrial hairy‐skinned arteriodactyls. Shaped by dynamic forces of the marine environment, nerves in the skin of cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) have adapted to assess critical aquatic information including current flow, swim turbulence, fish movement and boundary layers, as well as tactile touch, temperature and nociceptive stimuli. The anatomy of this highly‐derived sensory system was investigated in the flank skin of humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae , NMFS permits 14809, 15240) using antibodies against highly‐conserved molecules of physiologically‐distinct afferents identified in other mammalian species. Humpback whales inherited a genomically‐diverse suite of cutaneous axons, including low‐threshold mechanoreceptors that sense innocuous environmental signals, as well as high‐threshold thermoreceptors, chemoreceptors and nociceptors. However, during their transition from terrestrial artiodactyls into obligate marine mammals, axon morphology and organization diverged. Unlike other vertebrates, heterogenous axons in whale skin assemble into thread‐like bundles. These ensembles divide into smaller bundles, follow circuitous trajectories that form unpredictable shapes, and lack structural endings. Developmental research has shown that axonal growth in vertebrates is guided by the skin’s signaling molecules and external physical stimuli. As environmental forces are transmitted through the epidermis they convey stretch at the dermal‐epidermal junction, a mechanically unstable boundary where mechanoreceptors typically reside. ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Megaptera novaeangliae toothed whales Wiley Online Library The FASEB Journal 34 S1 1 1 |
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English |
description |
The skin’s sensory afferents have a myriad of varieties, tactile functions and specialized end‐organ receptors enabling species to exploit ecological niches. In typical vertebrate skin, from fish to humans, axons innervate relatively small discreet receptive fields, providing fine‐scale discrimination of texture or location of a pin prick. The cetacean suborders of Mysticeti (baleen) and Odontoceti (toothed) whales are fully‐aquatic glabrous‐skinned mammals, descendants of terrestrial hairy‐skinned arteriodactyls. Shaped by dynamic forces of the marine environment, nerves in the skin of cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) have adapted to assess critical aquatic information including current flow, swim turbulence, fish movement and boundary layers, as well as tactile touch, temperature and nociceptive stimuli. The anatomy of this highly‐derived sensory system was investigated in the flank skin of humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae , NMFS permits 14809, 15240) using antibodies against highly‐conserved molecules of physiologically‐distinct afferents identified in other mammalian species. Humpback whales inherited a genomically‐diverse suite of cutaneous axons, including low‐threshold mechanoreceptors that sense innocuous environmental signals, as well as high‐threshold thermoreceptors, chemoreceptors and nociceptors. However, during their transition from terrestrial artiodactyls into obligate marine mammals, axon morphology and organization diverged. Unlike other vertebrates, heterogenous axons in whale skin assemble into thread‐like bundles. These ensembles divide into smaller bundles, follow circuitous trajectories that form unpredictable shapes, and lack structural endings. Developmental research has shown that axonal growth in vertebrates is guided by the skin’s signaling molecules and external physical stimuli. As environmental forces are transmitted through the epidermis they convey stretch at the dermal‐epidermal junction, a mechanically unstable boundary where mechanoreceptors typically reside. ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Eldridge, Sherri Mortazavi, Farzad Rosene, Douglas |
spellingShingle |
Eldridge, Sherri Mortazavi, Farzad Rosene, Douglas The Hydrodynamic Sensory System in the Skin of Cetaceans |
author_facet |
Eldridge, Sherri Mortazavi, Farzad Rosene, Douglas |
author_sort |
Eldridge, Sherri |
title |
The Hydrodynamic Sensory System in the Skin of Cetaceans |
title_short |
The Hydrodynamic Sensory System in the Skin of Cetaceans |
title_full |
The Hydrodynamic Sensory System in the Skin of Cetaceans |
title_fullStr |
The Hydrodynamic Sensory System in the Skin of Cetaceans |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Hydrodynamic Sensory System in the Skin of Cetaceans |
title_sort |
hydrodynamic sensory system in the skin of cetaceans |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1096/fasebj.2020.34.s1.00356 |
genre |
Megaptera novaeangliae toothed whales |
genre_facet |
Megaptera novaeangliae toothed whales |
op_source |
The FASEB Journal volume 34, issue S1, page 1-1 ISSN 0892-6638 1530-6860 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1096/fasebj.2020.34.s1.00356 |
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The FASEB Journal |
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34 |
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S1 |
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1 |
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1 |
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1800756196054925312 |