Cutaneous Sensation and Psychodermatology (including diseases and medications) Flashcards
Where is the itch sensation limited to?
Skin, mucosa, and cornea
Describe Merkel cells
Light touch
Slow-adapting Aβ sensory fiber
Located along the stratum basale between keratinocytes
Also can be associated with hair
Meissner’s corpuscle
Describe Messiner’s corpuscle
Touch (dynamic skin deformation)
Rapidly-adapting Aβ sensory fiber
Merklel cell
Describe Ruffini corpuscle
Stretch
Slow-adapting Aβ sensory fiber
Pacinian corpuscle
Pacinian corpuscle
Describe Pacinian corpuscles
High pressure, vibration
Rapidly-adapting Aβ sensory fiber
Single non-myelinated nerve fiber enclosed by a multi-layer connective tissue capsule
Describe the sensation of hair follicles
Light touch, low-frequency vibration
All types of sensory fibers
What are the three intercommunicating plexuses of arteries and veins?
1) Deep plexus (interface of dermis and subcutis - some branches supply lower hair follicle and epitrichial sweat glands)
2) Middle plexus (level of the sebaceous gland and supplies arrector pili, middle hair follicle, and sebaceous glands)
3) Superficial plexus (capillary loops just below the epidermis - supplies upper hair follicle and epidermis)
Describe arterioles
endothelial cells surrounded by smooth muscle cells, most likely function as part of the resistance vessels in skin
If you wanted to stain Merkel cells on histopathology, what stain would you use?
CK20 (green)
IHC NSE (brown)
Ruffini corpusle
Potential new somatosensory organ in dogs
Non-encapsulated free nerve endings
What is one sentence that can describe how Merkel’s discs, Meissner’s corpuscles, Ruffini endings, and Pancinian corpuscles experience a finger moving over braille?
Each receptor sensors the same stimuli differently
Which type of nerve fibers typically respond to innocuous touch?
C fibers
Which type of nerve fibers typically respond to nociceptive touch?
Aδ fibers
C fibers
What is a dermatome?
An area of the skin supplied by one spinal nerve
What supplies the nerves of the skin of the head?
Cranial nerves
What supplies the nerves of the skin of the trunk and forelimbs?
Thoracic spinal nerves
What supplies the nerves of the hind limbs?
Pelvic spinal nerves
What are tylotrich hairs?
Large primary follicle surrounded by a ring of neurovascular tissue
Aδ fibers
Rapid
Associated with a tylotrich pad
What are the rapid adapting mechanoreceptors?
Pancinian corpuscle
Meissner corpuscle
Guard and down hairs
Tylotrich hairs
What are tylotrich pads?
Small, hairless, knob-like innervated structure on the haired skin of dogs and cats
Slow adapting mechanoreceptors
What are sinus hairs?
Hair with an endothelia blood sinus and a nearby Pancinian corpuscle
What are the slow adapting mechanoreceptors?
Merkel cell
Ruffini corpuscle
Sinus hair
Tylotrich pad
What do free nerve endings do?
They terminate in the dermis
Associated with “C fibers” and surrounded by Schwann cells
Pencillate (touch, temp, pain, itch)
Papillary (around hair, sense cold)
What do transient receptor potential channel (TRP)s sense?
pH
Chemical agents
Temperature
Osmolality
What does transient receptor potential ankyrin1 (TRPA1) do?
Sense cold and pungent taste (wasabi, horseradish, garlic, cinnamon)
Expressed on Aδ and c fibers
What does transient receptor potential melastatin 8 (TRPM8) do?
Sense cold, menthol, mint, and icilin
What is icilin?
A synthetic cooling agent that produces a strong sensation of cold in humans and animals
What does topical application of menthol and icilin activate?
Transient receptor potential melastatin 8 (TRPM8)
What does transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) do?
Detects noxious heat and pain-producing substances like capsaicin
What does topical application of capsaicin activate?
Transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1)
What are transient receptor potentials?
A class of cationic channels that act as signal transducer by altering membrane potential or intracellular calcium (Ca2+) concentration
Sense heat, cold, and certain chemicals
Which cutaneous sensory receptors respond to touch?
Hair
Tactile disk
Meissner corpuscle
Ruffini corpuscle
Pancinian corpuscle
Which of the following mechanoreceptor has the smallest
receptive?
Merkel cell axon complex
Which cutaneous sensory receptors respond to heat, pain, and itch?
Heat receptor, nociceptor (transient receptor potentials)
Free nerve endings
What is the relative axon diameter and conduction velocity of Aβ/II nerve fibers?
Medium (but largest for cutaneous), medium
What is the relative axon diameter and conduction velocity of Aδ/III nerve fibers?
Small, medium
What is the relative axon diameter and conduction velocity of C/IV nerve fibers?
Smallest, slow
Which type of cutaneous sensory nerve fiver has the largest axon diameter?
Aβ/II
Which type of cutaneous sensory nerve fiver has the smallest axon diameter?
C/IV
Which cutaneous nerve fibers are myelinated?
Aβ/II and Aδ/III
What type of nerve fiber senses epicritic itch?
Aδ/III
What is epicritic itch?
Sharp, well-defined itch
What type of nerve fiber senses protopathic itch?
C/IV
What is protopathic itch?
Poorly localized, sometimes burning itch
Not spontaneous but hyper-responsive to minor stimuli
What is spontaneous itch?
Well-localized at the site of stimulation
Only persists briefly after stimulus is removed
Where are Aβ/II nerve fibers found?
Merkel cells
Meissner’s corpuscles
Ruffini endings
Pacinian corpuscles
Hair follicles
What do Aβ/II nerve fibers sense?
Non-noxious mechanical stimuli
Touch, pressure
Where are Aδ/III nerve fibers found?
Hair follicles
Free nerve endings
What do Aδ/III nerve fibers sense?
Noxious stimuli
Fast pain
Epicritic itch
Mechanical stimuli
Temperature
Where are C/IV nerve fibers found?
Hair follicles
Free nerve endings
What do C/IV nerve fibers sense?
Noxious stimuli
Slow pain (considered the classic pain receptor)
Temperature
Chemicals
Itch (main one for AD itch, primarily protopathic itch)
Do myelinated or unmyelinated nerves have faster conduction?
Myelinated (the signal is protected)
What is alloknesis?
Normally non-itchy stimulus causes an itch or scratching sensation
Associated with C fibers
Common in chronic atopic dermatitis
What is physiologic itch?
Short-lived response to a pruritogen
What is pathologic itch?
AKA neuropathic itch
A chronic, usually intense, itching sensation caused by damage to the nerves that transmit itch
What is referred itch?
Development of a focal area of pruritus during scratching of a different, primary pruritic site
What is conversion itch?
Change of a normal sensation like touch to itch
What is the pathway of cutaneous sensation to the brain?
Peripheral sensory neuron –>
goes up primary afferent neurons through dorsal root ganglion –>
synapses with secondary transmission neurons in dorsal horn –>
cross over to contralateral spinothalamic tract in spinal cord–>
goes up spinothalamic tract to thalamus in the brain –>
goes to sensory cortex of the cerebrum
What is the dorsal root ganglion?
A pseudounipolar neurons relay sensory information to the spinal cord through a characteristic bifurcating axon, which sends one projection to the periphery and the other into the spinal cord
What is the gate control theory of cutaneous sensation/pain/itch?
Theory proposes that the spinal cord contains neural structures that act as a gate to control the flow of pain signals from the body to the brain so the sensation of a noxious stimuli can be blocked by a non-noxious stimuli carried by nerve fibers that reach the brain before the painful input
- substantia gelatinosa cells
- central factors like anxiety and boredom may act to reduce or amplify
What causes itch on inflamed skin?
Infections
Ectoparasites
Allergies
Immune-mediated
Neoplasia
What causes itch on non-inflamed skin?
Neuropathic
Systemic
Psychogenic
What is a pruritogen?
Any substance/mediators that cause pruritus
Which are the main amines that are pruritogens?
histamine
serotonin
Which are the main neuropeptides that are pruritogens?
substance P
NGF
Which are the main proteases that are pruritogens?
KLKs
cathepsin S
tryptase/chymase
exogenous proteases (HDM, Staphylococcus sp., mucunain)
Which are the main cytokines that are pruritogens?
TSLP
IL-2
IL-4
IL-13
IL-31***
IL-33
What is a plant that can cause non-histaminergic itch?
Cowhage (Velvet beans) due to the protease mucunain
What are the differences between histaminergic vs non-histaminergic itch pathways?
Histaminergic is mediated by mast cells and basophils
Follow similar pathway skin –> DRG –> spinal cord –> brain but activate some different (and some overlapping) areas of the brain
What are the primary differences between acute and chronic itch?
Acute is histamine dependent and mediated through BNP/NPRA
Chronic is histamine independent and mediated through GRP/GRPR
On which receptor do cannabinoids primarily work?
TRPV1
What are the primary functions of histamine?
Neurotransmission
Itchiness
Contraction of airways
Dilation of blood vessels
Gastric acid secretion
Which histamine receptors are most important for itch?
H1*
H4
Newer generations of antihistamines are more H1 specific