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In neurofibromas type I (plexiform) and type II (diffuse) the Schwann cell is the predominant cell in the neoplastic proliferation. Electron microscopic investigation of a neurofibroma with structures resembling tactile corpuscles (type III) revealed neoplastic proliferation of perineurial instead of Schwann cells. The tactile-like (pseudo-Meissnerian) corpuscles (corpuscules neurofibromateux) are formed by neoplastic perineurial cells. These cells have a tendency to wrap themselves around longitudinal structures, such as collagen fibres or axons, and to come into direct contact with the latter. This close relationship between the axon and the neoplastic perineurial cell, analogous to that between axon and Schwann cell, points to a neuroectodermal origin of the perineurial cell. The electron microscopic appearances suggest that either the Schwann cell or the perineurial cell is the essential neoplastic component of neurofibromas, the fibroblastic proliferation being a secondary phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]