Mapping the distribution of Meissner corpuscles throughout the human hand: Sex- and age-dependent variations

Meissner corpuscles are rapidly adapting mechanoreceptors involved in tactile discrimination in human glabrous hand skin. Detailed information on their regional distribution and variation across age, sex, and hand side remains limited. This study mapped Meissner corpuscles in 17 phalangeal and palmar regions from 46 individuals (27 male and 19 female) aged 3-92 years. Corpuscles were identified by S100 protein immunoreactivity. Density, the Meissner corpuscle index relative to dermal papillae, and equivalent circular diameter (ECD) were assessed using prespecified morphometric procedures. Descriptive comparisons were made across 17 hand regions. For distal-phalanx density, a secondary aggregate-level analysis compared 20 matched means per age group (five digits × two sexes × two hands). Density was higher in all 20 combinations in both consecutive age-group comparisons before 40 years and lower in all 20 in both comparisons after 40 years (exact two-sided sign-test p = 1.91 × 10^-6; Holm-adjusted p = 7.63 × 10^-6 for each comparison). Sex- and hand-side analyses showed no consistent directional pattern among the aggregate means (all Holm-adjusted p = 1.000). The Meissner corpuscle index was descriptively highest in the 21- to 40-year group, whereas ECD was higher in the 21- to 40- and 41- to 60-year groups and markedly lower after 60 years. The study provides a detailed anatomical map and identifies a uniform age-related directional pattern in the retained aggregate distal-phalanx data. Because subject-level observations were unavailable for reanalysis, the statistical findings quantify directional consistency among aggregate means and should not be interpreted as subject-level inference.