Schreiner organs: a new craniate chemosensory modality in hagfishes

An extensive system of sensory organs resembling taste buds was previously known in the skin of hagfishes. These sensory organs, called here Schreiner organs, are found throughout the epidermis of both Eptatretus stoutii and Myxine glutinosa. They are found also at high densities in the prenasal sinus, nasopharyngeal duct, and pharynx, and at lower densities in the oral and velar chambers. Schreiner organs are multicellular aggregates composed of acetylated tubulin-immunoreactive receptor cells and nonimmunoreactive cells. A considerable range of variation was found in Schreiner organ morphology, but discrete classes of organs could not be recognized. Schreiner organs are innervated by all sensory trigeminal rami, the glossopharyngeal/vagal nerve, and cutaneous rami of spinal nerves, but not by the facial nerve. The central projections of these rami form a continuous tract in the trigeminal sensory zone and the dorsolateral funiculus of the spinal cord. Some Schreiner organs may be represented in the nucleus of the solitary tract, but this structure is certainly not the primary recipient zone of Schreiner organ afferents. In light of these systemic differences between vertebrate taste systems and the Schreiner organ system of hagfishes, it is concluded that Schreiner organs are not homologous to taste buds. This sensory modality of hagfishes has no direct homolog in vertebrates and appears to be a specialization of hagfishes, perhaps derived from the primitive somatosensory system of the earliest craniates.