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Concept

Pacinian corpuscles

A close-up view of a surface covered in small, round, translucent droplets, resembling Pacinian corpuscles, which are onion-layered mechanoreceptors found in the dermis and connective tissue.

Onion-layered mechanoreceptors set deep in the dermis and connective tissue, large enough to see with the naked eye in dissection. They respond to high-frequency vibration in the two-to-three-hundred hertz band, which lets a fingertip dragged across a surface hear texture as a tactile audio signal. Pacinians can also pick up vibrations transmitted through a held tool, letting a craftsman feel through a chisel or a probe.

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