Somatosensory & pain Flashcards
The 3 skin layers
Epidermis, dermis & hypodermis
Where are our touch receptors?
In the dermis (some close to the epidermis)
4 types of touch receptors and their placement
Merkel disk receptors(between epidermis and dermis)
Meissner corpuscles(between epidermis and dermis)
Ruffini endings(in dermis)
Pacinian corpuscles(in dermis
How do you determine the receptive field for the touch receptors?
2-point discrimination test
Devide the 4 touch receptors by deep/superficial layering and by rapid/slowly adabting
Merkel disk receptors(superficial and slow)
Meissner corpuscles(superficial and fast)
Ruffini endings(deep and slow)
Pacinian corpuscles(deep and fast)
Which touch receptors code for surface contour?
superficial receptors (Merkel disk receptors and Meissner corpuscles)
4 types of information yielding sensation
- Modality = receptor type
- Localization (where it is and the extension of the receptive field)
- Adaptation (duration of the stimulus)
- Timing = combination of AP frequency and duration of the nerve impulse.
The diameter of a probe is coded by which receptor?
Merkel disc receptors
Which receptors have “air-bags”?
Meissner and Pacinian receptors (rapidly adabting)
What are temperature receptors called?
transient receptor potentials (TRPs)
Which temperature receptors open for “drugs” and which “drugs” are these?
TRPM8 opens at ~20°C and in the presence of Menthol. TRPV1 opens at ~40°C and in the presence of Capsaicin
Rapid/slow adaptors in the temperature system
rapid = warm, cold = slow - cold water is cold for a long time, but hot water becomes “normal” quickly
How is proprioception mediated?
By muscle spindle receptors and the golgi tendon organ (detects stretch and contractions respectively)
IA afferent nerve fiber
IA afferent nerve fiber is the sensory fiber of a stretch receptor found in muscles called the muscle spindle, which constantly monitors how fast a muscle stretch changes. (In other words, it monitors the velocity of the stretch).
IA afferent fibers transfer the information about muscle length and tension to alpha and gamma motoneurons in the spinal cord. Alpha motoneurons project back to the skeletal muscle whereas gamma motoneurons project to the muscle spindle
IB afferent nerve fiber
IB afferent neuron is associated with the Golgi tendon organ. These afferent fibers branch extensively and wrap around the many collagen fibers that compose the Golgi tendon organ and detects contraction.
To avoid an over-contraction of the skeletal muscle IB fibers send the information from the Golgi Tendon Organ to inhibitory neurons in the spinal cord to mediate muscle relaxation.
What fiber types carry what information?
A-alpha: proprioception
A-beta: touch
A-gamma: pain/temperature
C-fibers: pain/temperature
What’s a dermatome?
An area of skin whose sensory receptors responds to one spinal column
How does the dorsal medial lemniscus pathway go?
For proprioception and touch: information from A-alpha or A-beta fibers enter the spinal cord at Laminae IV (column of Clark) and is sent ipsilaterally through the Gracile/cuneate fasciculus to the medulla (in the Gracile or cuneate nucleus - where the lower motor neuron is) where it switches over to the medial lemniscus on the contralateral side. Here it goes through the thalamus (VPL) to the somatosensory cortex
How is the somatosensory cortex divided up?
from 2-1-3b-3a (from posterior to anterior). It shows a cortical somatotopy especially of area 3b. Area 3a get most of proprioceptive input; whereas area 1 and 2 are most important for the quality of the stimulus.
Lateral inhibition
lateral inhibition is when the surrounding neurons of a super-firing neuron are inhibited in order for one to find out where the signal from the super firing neuron is coming from
Subcategories of persistent pain
1) nociceptive (somatic or visceral) and 2) neuropathic (direct nerve damage)
The 3 major classes of nociceptive pain
Three major classes: thermal, mechanical, polymodal