First described in the 1850s by Wilhelm Krause, the function and physiological functions of the sensory structures that bear his name have remained unclear. However, a study in Nature has shown that Krause corpuscles have an important role in genital sensation.

The team from Harvard University began by assessing the distribution and density of Krause corpuscles. In the genitalia of female mice, corpuscles were densely located throughout the clitoris, but were absent from vaginal tissue. In male mice, corpuscles were distributed through the glans penis and the internal prepuce. Quantitative assessment showed a comparable total number of Krause corpuscles within the glans clitoris and glans penis, despite the different sizes of the female and male genitalia. Thus, the density of Krause corpuscles in the glans clitoris was 15-fold higher than in the flaccid glans penis.