Lecture 3: Skin Physiology Flashcards
What are the different types of Touch receptors of the skin?
5
- Free nerve endings
- Tactile discs
- Tactile corpuscles
- Lamellar corpuscles
- Bulbous corpuscles
How are receptors adapted to different stimuli?
2
- Can often respond to several different stimuli
- Will be most sensitive to a particular type of stimulus
What is the most common receptor in the skin?
Free nerve endings
What is the structure of free nerve endings?
2
- Mostly unmyelinated/small diameter fibres
- some myelinated/small diameter fibres
Where are Sensory Terminals found?
The distal ends of free nerve endings
What are Sensory Terminals?
Small swellings at the end of free nerve endings
What do sensory terminals possess?
Receptors that function as Cation channels leading to depolarisation and action potentials
What do Free Nerve endings mainly respond to?
4
- Temperature
- Painful stimuli
- Some movement/pressure
- Some itch
What are Peritrichial nerve endings?
Free nerve endings that wrap around hair follicles
What do Peritrichial endings do?
Act as light touch receptors, by detecting the bending of hairs
How do Free nerve ending sense itch?
Histamine receptors on sensory nerve endings detect histamine and alert your body
What are Tactile discs?
Free nerve endings located in the deepest layer of epidermis
What are Tactile discs associated with?
Large disc shaped epidermal (Merkel) cells
What does a Merkel cell do?
2
- Detects stimulus
- Convert stimulus into a chemical message that is transmitted to sensory nerve endings
What is the chemical messenger used by Merkel cells?
Serotonin
Where are Tactile disks/Merkel cells most abundant in the body?
Finger tips
Are the receptor fields of Tactile disks/Merkel cells small or big?
Small
What are Tactile disks/Merkel cells good for?
Two point discrimination
What are Tactile disks/Merkel cells sensitive to?
An objects physical features e.g. texture, shape and edges
Where are Tactile Corpuscles located?
Papillary layer of the dermis
Where are Tactile Corpuscles especially prevalent in the body?
Hairless skin e.g. - finger pads - lips - eyelids soles of feet
What can the structure of Tactile Corpuscles be described as?
Encapsulated
What are the structural features of an Encapsulated Tactile Corpuscle?
(3)
- Branching unmyelinated sensory terminals
- Terminals provided support by modified Schwann cells
- surrounded by a thin oval fibrous connective tissue capsule
What do Tactile Corpuscles sense?
3
- Delicate/discriminative touch
- Light pressure
- Low frequency vibration (2-80 Hz)
Where are Lamellar Corpuscles located?
Scattered deep in the dermis/hypodermis
What are the structural features of Lamellar Corpuscles?
3
- Single dendrite
- Inside layers of collagen fibres/specialised fibroblasts
- Each layer separated by gelatinous interstitial fluid
What does deformation to the capsule of lamellar Corpuscles do?
opens pressure sensitive Na+ channels in sensory axons
What makes Lamellar Corpuscles rapidly adapting?
When inner layers covering the axon terminal are compressed they ‘relax’ quickly so action potentials are discontinued
What stimulates Lamellar corpuscles?
2
- Deep pressure
- Vibration (around 250Hz)
Where are Bulbous Corpuscles located?
In the Demis/subcutaneous tissue
What are the structural features of Bulbous Corpuscles?
3
- Network of nerve endings
- Intertwined with a core of collagen fibres that are continuous with the dermis
- Capsule surrounding entire structure
What stimulates Bulbous Corpuscles?
2
- sustained deep pressure
- stretching/distortion of the skin
What are Bulbous Corpuscles important for?
signalling continuous states of:
- deformation to tissue
- heavy prolonged touch/pressure signals
What are Bulbous corpuscles involved in at joint capsules?
Proprioception - degree of joint rotation
Where on the body is there a high density of Bulbous Corpuscles?
Around fingernails
What do Bulbous Corpuscles allow your grip to do?
Be modulated
What do Arteries do in context of the skin?
Supply blood to the skin and subcutaneous layer
Where do the branches of arteries extend?
They extend into the superficial layers of the dermis
What is the role of capillary loops?
2
- supply blood to the upper dermis/underside of the epidermis
- Drain blood into the venous plexus
Where is smooth muscle located?
In the walls of blood vessels