Cutaneous Receptors Flashcards
Nociception Receptor
Nociceptor
- Found in many types of tissue (not in brain)
- Respond to chemical mediators of tissue damage, but may also respond to extremes of mechanical deformation of thermal extremes (or combo).
Temperature Receptor
Thermoreceptor
- Measure change in temperature, not absolute temperature.
- Found in many types of tissue
Mechanoreceptors
Respond to mechanical distortion
-Responsive to touch, pressure, stretch and vibration
Light touch - Discriminative touch
-Hair follicle receptors/follicular endings
-Little nerve ending that wraps around hair, thus only found only in hairy skin
(not found on palm, sole or lips)
Light touch - Meissner Corpuscles
Dermis of glabrous (hairless) skin
-Abundant in finger pads
Light touch - Merkel complex
Hairy and glabrous skin
- Abundant in finger pads
- Highly sensitive
Glabrous skin is?
hairless
Merkel complex are specialized receptor cells that?
release a neuropeptide (merkel cell) and have flattened nerve endings (merkel disks/merkel endings).
-When stimulated merkel cells release neuropeptides to receptors on the merkel disks.
Light touch - Ruffini ending/Corpuscles
Long strands continuous with the fibers in the surrounding skin that are activated when the skin is stretched.
Light touch - pacinian corpuscles
Vibration and deep pressure components of light touch
Coarse/Crude Touch
Receptors are free nerve endings (no special name)
- Produces an emotional response to touch
- No fine localization or discriminative quality of touch
- Takes a different route to the brain than light touch
Itch and tickle
Receptors are free nerve endings (no special name)
still not understood
