General Sensory Mechanisms III Flashcards
What type of potential do receptors create?
A local, decremental potential that is essentially a local potential.
If the potential is strong enough (through summation), it may generate an action potential at the first node of Ranvier on the primary sensory neuron.
most pathways are made up of three neurons. What are these neurons?
Primary neurons
Secondry neurons
Tertiary neurons
Where do primary neurons originate from?
Peripheral receptors, such as Merkel’s receptors.
Where do primary neurons enter the spinal cord?
Via dorsal roots of the spinal (cranial) nerves.
They synapse in the spinal cord with secondary neurons.
Where do secondary neurons originate?
In the spinal cord gray matter.
They travel through the spinal cord in one of the myelinated columns.
Where do secondary neurons synapse?
The thalamus.
They synapse with tertiary neurons.
Where do tertiary neurons travel through?
The internal capsule.
It is a myelinated pathway between the thalamus and some of the basal nuclei.
Where do tertiary neurons synapse?
In the somatosensory cortex.
What is two-point discrimination touch?
It refers to the ability to distinguish two separate points as close as 2 millimeters apart.
Where does two-point discrimination touch travel?
In the dorsal column-medial lemniscal pathway.
What is the importance of lateral inhibition?
It blocks the lateral spread of excitatory signals, thereby increasing the degree of contrast in the cerebral cortex.
Where does lateral inhibition occur?
Dorsal column nuclei
Ventrobasal nuclei of thalamus
Somatosensory cortex
What is a pathway that carries two point discrimination touch?
Dorsal column-medial lemniscal pathway.
What is the pathway of the dorsal column-medial lemniscal pathway?
Peripheral receptors -> spinal nerve -> dorsal root of spinal nerve -> spinal cord
What are two regions that the dorsal column-medial lemniscal system travels through?
The thalamus to the somatosensory cortex. This is associated with secondary neurons.
The transmission of a pinpoint stimulus signal to the cerebral cortex requires synapses. Generally, the more synapses, the ___ the stimulus.
Stronger
Without lateral inhibition, how would a stimulus be felt?
It would be perceived only as one point instead of two.
Where do axons from the lower limbs travel?
In the medial portions of the dorsal columns.
Each of these areas of dorsal columns is called the fasciculus gracilis.
Where do axons from the upper limbs travel?
In the lateral portions of the two dorsal columns.
Each of these areas of the dorsal columns is called the fasciculus cuneatus.
Where do aons in the fasciculus gracilis synapse?
In the lower medulla in the nucleus gracilis.
Where do axons in the fasciculus cuneatus synapse?
In the lower medulla in the nucleus cuneatus.