{{distinguish|Bulboid corpuscle}} {{Short description|Skin mechanoreceptor}} {{Infobox anatomy | Name = Ruffini ending | Latin = corpusculum sensorium fusiforme | Image = Blausen_0807_Skin_RuffiniCorpuscle.png | Caption = | Image2 = Gray937.png | Caption2 = Nerve ending of Ruffini. | System = | PartOf = Skin | Function = Mechanoreceptor
}} The '''bulbous corpuscle''', '''Ruffini ending''' or '''Ruffini corpuscle''' is a slowly adapting mechanoreceptor located in the cutaneous tissue between the dermal papillae and the hypodermis. It is named after Angelo Ruffini.
==Structure== Ruffini corpuscles are enlarged dendritic endings with elongated capsules.<ref name=pappilae>{{cite book|title=Ganong's Review of Medical Physiology|publisher=TATA McGraw-Hill Lange|isbn=978-0-07-067722-7|edition=23rd|page=150|chapter=8|year=2010}}<!--|access-date=9 June 2012--></ref> [[File:Ruffini Corpuscle by Angelo Ruffini.jpg|thumb|Ruffini corpuscle from original slide sent by Ruffini to Sir Charles Sherrington<ref>Molnár Z, Brown RE., 2010. Insights into the life and work of Sir Charles Sherrington. Nat Rev Neurosci. 11(6):429-36</ref>]]
==Function== This spindle-shaped receptor is sensitive to skin stretch, and contributes to the kinesthetic sense of and control of finger position and movement.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mountcastle |first=Vernon C. |year=2005 |title=The Sensory Hand: Neural Mechanisms of Somatic Sensation |publisher=Harvard University Press |page=34}}</ref> They are at the highest density around the fingernails where they act in monitoring slippage of objects along the surface of the skin, allowing modulation of grip on an object. {{Citation needed|date=April 2020}}
Ruffini corpuscles respond to sustained pressure<ref name=Ganong>{{cite book|title=Ganong's Review of Medical Physiology|publisher=TATA McGraw-Hill Lange|isbn=978-0-07-067722-7|edition=23rd|page=150|chapter=8|year=2010}}<!--|access-date=9 June 2012--></ref> and show very little adaptation.<ref name=Guyton>{{cite book|title=Guyton & Hall Pocket Companion to Textbook of Medical Physiology|isbn=81-8147-057-5|author=Arthur c. Guyton|edition=10|author2=John E. Hall|page=362|chapter=47}}<!--|access-date=9 June 2012--></ref>
Ruffinian endings are located in the deep layers of the skin, and register mechanical deformation within joints, more specifically angle change, with a specificity of up to 2.75 degrees, as well as continuous pressure states. They also act as thermoreceptors that respond for a long time, so in case of deep burn there will be no pain, as these receptors will be burned off.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hamilton |first=Nancy |year=2008 |title=Kinesiology: Scientific Basis of Human Motion |publisher=McGraw-Hill |pages=76–7}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{Cite journal|vauthors=Paré M, Behets C, Cornu O | title = Paucity of presumptive ruffini corpuscles in the index finger pad of humans. | journal = J Comp Neurol | volume = 456 | issue = 3 | pages = 260–6 | year = 2003 | pmid = 12528190 | doi = 10.1002/cne.10519| s2cid = 13396416 }}
{{somatosensory system}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Sensory receptors