The relation of tactile thresholds to histology in the fingers of elderly people.

Touch thresholds in a group of elderly people were determined for three sites on the little finger. They were found to be raised by some two and a half times in each site, in comparison with a group of young subjects. An age-associated reduction in the number of Meissner corpuscles also was observed, but it is suggested that this may reflect a general reduction in peripheral innervation and may not be necessarily directly related to the decrease in tactile sensitivity. No significant sex differences were found either in sensory thresholds, or in the population density of corpuscles.