Peripheral Nervous System - Flashcards
What are the two major divisions of the peripheral nervous system?
Somatic and Autonomic
What are the two divisions of the autonomic nervous system?
Sympathetic and para-sympathetic
What are sensory receptors classified by?
- Functionality by type of detected stimulus
- Location of stimulus
- Structural complexity
How does transduction occur in sensory receptors?
stimulus energy is converted into a graded potential which must reach threshold for nerve impulse
What are pain receptors called and what type of fibers carry impulses there?
Nociceptors
- type A (myelinated) fibers carry fast pain sensations
- type C (unmyelinated) fibers carry slow pain sensations
What do chemoreceptors do?
Respond to water soluble and lipid soluble substances dissolved in body fluids
What do mechanoreceptors do and what are the subtypes of mechanoreceptors (3)?
Sensitive to stimuli that distort the plasma membrane –> mechanically gated ion channels
- Proprioceptors –> watch positions of joints
- Baroreceptors –> detect changes in pressure (inside stimulus, changes in blood vessels)
- Tactile receptors –> sensations of touch, pressure and vibrations (outside stimulus)
What are the three classifications of sensory receptors according to location?
- Externoreceptors –> response to stimuli from outside the body (skin and most special sense organs)
- Internoceptors –> respond to stimulus from internal viscera and blood vessels; sensitive to chemical changes, tissue stretch and temperature changes)
- Proprioceptors –> Respond to stretch in skeletal muscles, joints, tendons, ligaments and connective tissues covering bones and muscles (lets the brain know what is happening)
What are the anatomical classifications of sensory receptors according to structural complexity?
- Unencapuslated nerve endings
2. Encapsulated nerve endings
Where would you find unencapsulated nerve endings and what type of fibers are they usually made of?
Found abundantly in epithelial and connective tissue, mainly group C fibers and they are not protected by accessory structures
What type of receptors have encapsulated nerve endings and what are they enclosed by?
Mechanoreceptors –> enclosed by connective tissue capsule
What is the classification of hair follicle receptors?
- unencapsulated dendritic endings
- mechanoreceptors wrapped around air
- rapidly adapting
What unencapsulated receptors have free nerve endings?
- thermoreceptors (cold receptors 10-40 degrees are superficial while heat receptors 32-48 degrees are deeper)
- Mechanoreceptors
- Nocioreceptors
What is a Merkel disk and where are they found?
Mechanoreceptors for light steady pressure –> found in the basal layer of epidermis
*slowly adapting
What are Meissner’s corpuscles, what do they do and where are they found?
–> ENCAPSULATED dendritic endings
–> detects light pressure, discriminative touch, low frequency vibrations
–> found in dermal papillae of hairless skin
What are Pacinian corpuscles, what do they do and where are they found?
–> ENCAPSULATED dendtritic endings
–> sense deep pressure, stretch, high frequency vibratiion
–> found in the dermis and hypodermis
What are Ruffini endings, what do they do and where are they found?
–> ENCAPSULATED dendritic endings
–> receptive to continuous pressure and stretch
–> found in the dermis, hypodermis and joint capsule
What are the superficial and deep fast adapting dendritic endings?
Superficial: Miessner corpuscles
Deep: Pacinian corpuscles
What are the superficial and deep slow adapting dendritic endings?
Superficial: Merkel cells
Deep: Ruffini endings
What is the difference between sensation and perception?
Sensation: awareness of changes in the internal and external environment
Perception: conscious interpretation of the stimuli
What are the 3 basic levels of neural integration in sensory systems?
- Receptor level
- Circuit level
- Perceptual level
What must happen in order for a sensation to occur?
Stimulus must excite the receptor (must match receptor specificity and applied in receptive field), transduction occurs (changing stimulus energy into graded potential) and the action potential has to reach the CNS (graded potential must reach threshold)
What does adaptation mean in terms of sensory receptors?
Change in sensitivity to a constant stimulus –> receptor membranes become less responsive and potentials decline or stop
What is a phasic receptor?
Fast-adapting –> sends signals at the beginning or end of a stimulus
Ex: receptors for pressure, touch and smell
- think about a smell being in a room, you stop noticing it after a while
- think clothes, you don’t feel your clothes on your body all day
What is a tonic receptor?
Adapt slowly or not at all
Ex: nociceptors and most proprioceptors –> you need pain in order for these to actually “turn on”
What happens when stimulus is being processed at a circuit level?
Pathways of 3 NEURONS conduct sensory impulses received from receptors towards appropriate cortical regions
What does feature abstraction mean as an aspect of sensory perception?
Identification of more complex aspects of multiple stimuli properties –> being able to describe properties of something without knowing what it is
Ex: velvet is compressible and smooth but not completely continuous
Pain impulses travel on what type of fibers? What do they release?
Thinly myelinated α fibers –> release glutamate
Unmyelinated C fibers –> release glutamate and substance P
What does pain warn?
Actual or impending tissue damage
What is gate control theory?
Non-painful inputs (AB) inhibit pain transmission (C fibers)
–> less of the information is actually going through but only while there is an application of stimulus
What is involved in descending pain control?
- some pain impulses are blocked by inhibitory endogenous opioids (endorphins and enkephalins)
- Descending fibers from cortex & hypothalamus release INHIBITORY neurotransmitters which suppress pain signals
What does hyperalgesia mean?
pain amplification
How do we “learn” pain and what does this mean?
NDMA receptors allow the spinal cord to “learn” hyperalgesia (as this is used more, the body gets better at feeling pain and this can lead to chronic pain)
What is referred pain?
Pain that is coming from a different region in the body but it actually comes from somewhere else.
What is the criteria for a neuron to be able to regenerate?
If the body is still intact but the axon is damaged, it can regenerate using coordinated activity between macrophages, Schwaan cells, and axons
What supporting neural cells have growth-inhibiting proteins?
ogliodendrocytes
What supporting neural cells cause scarring?
Astrocytes form scar tissues –> prevents the CNS fiber regeneration