Tactile mechanoreceptors enable touch, an essential sense for survival and development of humans. Contact with objects provides information to the CNS that allows exploration of the environment[3]:

• Meissner's corpuscles are involved in skin movement, and object handling detection and their primary stimulation is through dynamic deformation
• Ruffini corpuscles primarily sense skin stretching, movement, and finger position.
• Pacinian corpuscles sense vibrations and detect fine textures

Afferent signals from baroreceptors contribute to a negative feedback loop within the medulla which is responsible for mean arterial pressure (MAP) maintenance. A rise in MAP causes activation of the baroreceptor, resulting in a reduction of sympathetic signals to vessels and heart. This signal modification reestablishes MAP to appropriate levels. Reduction in MAP consequently, leads to a reduction in stimulation of baroreceptors, causing an increase in sympathetic stimulation, increased cardiac output, and vasoconstriction. This interaction is the baroreceptor reflex.[8]

For tactile receptors, used for touch there is precise coding of mechanical information. Mechanoreceptors will respond to vibrations, indentations of the skin or movement of hair follicles.[2] Cutaneous mechanoreceptors localize in different layers of the skin with varying ranges of mechanical stimuli detection. This range sensing divides into two groups: low-threshold mechanoreceptors (LTMRs) and high-threshold mechanoreceptors (HTMRs). LTMRs react to light, benign pressure while HTMRs react to stronger, harmful, mechanical pressure. Both mechanoreceptor types reside in DRGs and cranial sensory ganglia. Nerves associated with these two mechanoreceptor types classify as A-beta-, A-delta- or C-fibers based on their action potential conduction velocities.[3] 

When tactical mechanoreceptors activate, there is an elevated frequency of action potential propagation, but after repeated stimulation, the cell will adapt to baseline electrical propagation. A-beta mechanoreceptors subclassify into two groups based on this phenomenon: rapidly adapting (RA) or slowly adapting (SA). Meissner's corpuscles and Pacinian corpuscles are rapidly adapting mechanoreceptors while Merkel cells and Ruffini corpuscles are the SA mechanoreceptors. We can further divide RA and SA into subgroups. RA type 1 (RA 1) have smaller, more defined receptive fields and respond to the lower frequencies of vibration. RA 2 is the opposite, with larger receptive fields and respond to higher frequencies. SA 1 demonstrate a continual response to static stimulation along with small receptive fields. While SA 2 also produces consistent responses to the static stimulation and have larger receptive fields. SA 1 receptors are Merkel disks, SA 2 receptors are Ruffini corpuscles, RA 1 involves multiple Meissner corpuscle, and RA 2 receptors are Pacinian corpuscles.[2]

Baroreceptors are known as stretch mechanoreceptors. When pressure is low, baroreceptors are inactive but when blood pressure increases the aortic and carotid sinuses stretch further, leading to activation of baroreceptors. More significant stretches lead to rapidly fired action potentials in baroreceptors. Baroreceptor action potentials travel to the solitary nucleus (SN), embedded within the medulla oblongata. The frequency of action potentials serves as a measure of blood pressure. Increased activation of the SN causes inhibition of the vasomotor center and stimulates vagal nuclei, which ultimately results in the inhibition of the sympathetic nervous system and the activation of the parasympathetic system.[9]

The two-point threshold test measures touch acuity, which refers to the ability to discriminate between touch stimuli. Touch acuity is routinely tested in neurology to assess the state of the dorsal column system. Mechanoreceptors in the skin are not uniform. Sensitive areas of the skin like the lips or skin have densely packed mechanoreceptors while insensitive areas like the back have more sparse mechanoreceptors. This difference translates to sensitive regions of the body having a greater dedication to sensory processing in the primary sensory cortex compared to insensitive areas.[10]

There many pathologies related to mechanoreceptors[11][12][13][14][12]:

Mechanical allodynia

Mechanical allodynia is a painful sensation caused by innocuous stimuli like a light touch. Essentially there is a shift in pain thresholds causing normal stimuli to feel painful. RA neurons that participate in proprioception and touch have a low activation threshold with quick inactivation, which is consistent with a slow response to mechanical stimuli. Mechanonociceptors show a mixture of rapid, intermediate and slow adapting currents accompanied by greater activation thresholds. It also appears that there is an alteration of CNS processing of normal input from ABeta LTMRs.

Dyspnea

Dyspnea or shortness of breath is the most common accompaniment of lung disease. Dyspnea involves central, peripheral, chemoreceptor and mechanoreceptor mechanisms. Muscle spindles in the respiratory muscle operate as mechanoreceptors. The receptors can detect muscle tension and innervate via the anterior horn cells in the spinal neurons which project to the somatosensory cortex. Vibrations of the chest wall have been investigated to understand mechanoreceptor’s role. In-phase chest wall vibrations, e.g., expiratory muscles vibration during expiration and inspiratory muscles vibration during inspiration, results in a decrease of dyspnea in control subjects along with subjects with COPD, while vibrations that are not in-phase increase dyspnea. These results show that mechanoreceptors in the chest wall, innervated by the spinal neurons have a modulating effect on dyspnea.

Mechanoreceptors are an important receptor class for the somatosensory system. These receptors have a well-known role in tactile feedback from the skin and skeletal system which is essential for human development and sensation. The variety of tactile mechanoreceptors within the skin allow for differential detection of touch and vibrational stimuli that permit detection of benign or harmful pressure. Disease pathologies connected to mechanoreceptor often link to dysregulation of the neuromuscular signaling which can lead to issues related to functional instability of anterior cruciate ligament, dyspnea or pain. There is still a need for research regarding the molecular interactions that lead to mechanotransduction.