Abstract
Sensory nerve endings in the feathered skin, oral epithelium, and anal mucous membranes of the 5-days old chicken and domestic duck were studied histologically. The sections were stained by Seto's silver impregnation method.
A large number of Herbst corpuscles were distributed in these areas, especially in the feathered skin. The corpusles varied in size and shape (ellipsoidal or cylindrical), and were encapsulated by a thin connective tissue layer. They consisted of an inner bulb and the surrounding thin lamellae. The inner bulb encased a terminal axon. The lamellae were separated from one another by a wide and waterly lucent space. The corpuscles were seen in and around the feather muscle, in the connective tissue around the feather root, and in the connective tissue beneath the stratified squamous epithelium of the oral and anal mucous membranes. Small Pacinian corpuscles were also observed in the subepithelial layer of oral and anal mucosae, but were rarely found in the feahered skin.
Non-encapsulated, branched and unbranched sensory endings were formed in the feather papilla and pulp. They were also formed in the connective tissue sheath of the feather root.Small feathers received more ample innervations of those non-encapsulated endings than did large feathers. Terminal branches in the connective tissue sheath sometimes penetrated into the epithelial layer of the feather root to form intraepithelial endings.
