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Evidence for distinct populations of human Merkel cells

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Abstract

Merkel cells (MCs) are neuroendocrine cells of unknown origin located in the skin. They are identified at electron microscopic level by electron dense granules, at light microscopic level by the presence of cytokeratins 8, 18, 19 and 20. Contradictory reports concerning the presence of other molecules of epithelial as well as neural origin prompted us to investigate whether there are distinct populations of human MCs. Here, we show the heterogeneous expression of villin, N-CAM, NGF-R, and neurofilaments in MCs. Synaptophysin is found in all MCs but with different intensity, nestin is absent. Expression patterns vary between interfollicular epidermis, hair follicles and glabrous epidermis. We conclude that there are distinct populations of MCs, but all populations contain markers for epithelial as well as neural cells. Putative functions of the distinct populations are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Raja Stephenson and Nikolas Haass for carefully reading the manuscript and fruitful discussions. This work was supported by the Hooke-Stiftung.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dermatology and Venerology, University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistrasse 52, 20246, Hamburg, Germany

    A.-C. Eispert, F. Fuchs, J. M. Brandner, P. Houdek, E. Wladykowski & Ingrid Moll

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  1. A.-C. Eispert
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  2. F. Fuchs
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  3. J. M. Brandner
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  4. P. Houdek
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  5. E. Wladykowski
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  6. Ingrid Moll
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Correspondence to Ingrid Moll.

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A.-C. Eispert and F. Fuchs have contributed equally to the paper.

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Eispert, AC., Fuchs, F., Brandner, J.M. et al. Evidence for distinct populations of human Merkel cells. Histochem Cell Biol 132, 83–93 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00418-009-0578-0

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