pacinian (pa-sin'e-an)

From Pacini, p. corpuscles. A form of nerve ending discovered by Vater (1741), first described by Pacini (1830), and named after him by Kolliker and Henle (1844). Each c. consists of a centrally situated blind termination of a medullated nerve fiber surrounded by an ovoid ma consisting of several concentrically arranged layers with a central, nearly homogeneous core next to the nerve fiber. The nerve fiber enters the c. at one pole, very soon loses its myelin, and then extends as a naked axis cylinder nearly to the opposite pole, where it enlarges into one or more club-shaped terminal ma es. \_Filippo Pacini, an Italian anatomist, 1812-1883.]