Somatosensory System Flashcards
What are receptors? (2)
Either modified non-neural tissue cells or axons themselves
Receptors translate environmental energy into generator potentials which in turn trigger action potentials. How are APs conducted?
Along nerves to the CNS in spatio-temporal patterns that our nervous system can process.
Are AP conducted faster or slower on myelinated axons (as oppossed to unmyelinated)?
faster
What are compound action potentials?
Recordings of the summed APs measured over time at a particular site on the nerve
The further along the nerve you record, the more the compound AP ___ by velocity. Peaks correspond to ____ ____ with different conduction velocities and degrees of myelination.
Seperate; axonal clusters
Nerve compound APs are classified by either letters or numbers depending on how the original physiology labs classified them. Roman numerals apply to ____, while letters apply to ____.
Motor nerves; sensory nerves
Which classification of axons are most myelinated and fastest?
A or I
Despite the wide range of types of information to be sensed and acted on, a small set of common principles underlie all sensory processes. Sensory systems mediate four attributes of stimuli that be correlated with sensation. What are they?
Intesity, sensory adaptation, localization, modality
How does intensity coding produce a gradient of sensation?
Increased stimulus energy enhances action potential frequency and vice versa.
What is the decrease in neural activity with sustained stimulation and is used to convey a message concerning the rate of change of a stimulus or status of the sensation?
Sensory adaptation
What mechanisms take place in rapid adaptation?
Ion channel inactivation or receptor deformation
What mechanisms take place in slow adaptation?
Inactivation of Ca or Na channels
What is the area of skin innervated by the branching of a single sensory neuron?
Cutaneous receptive field (RF) - RFs that are densely innervated tend to be the smalles in area
Modalities are subserved by seperate populations of sensory neurons specialized in detecting stimuli of different qualities. These specializations are structures that transform physical energy into neural signals. Axons have membrane receptors that respond to specific stimuli delivered in what two ways?
“Indirectly through CT capsules or modified epithelial cells
Directly through the membrane of the free nerve endings”
What are sensory receptor proteins and what do they do?
Transient receptor (TRP) type ion channels. Each responds maximally to one stimulus (adequate stimulus) and less to others.
What do you call the energy that elicits the greatest response and largely determines which neurons will be responsible for the perception of the sensory modality?
Adequate stimulus
What term usually refers to environmental stimuli of cutaneous receptors that mediate discriminative and non-discriminative touch, temperature and pain?
Somatosensory exteroception
Discriminative touch is mediated by exteroceptive mechanoreceptors embedded in CT or around hairs. Merkel cells and Ruffini corpuscles are ____, while Meissner and Pacinian corpuscles and hair follicles are ___. (fast or slow adapting)
SA; FA
What is the area of skin that when impacted can stimulate a single specific neuron/receptor?
Mechanoreceptor receptive field
What are the three distinct somatocensory modalities that are all mediated by free nerve endings, have slower conducting and smaller A-delta and C type axons, and are all slow adapting?
“Non-discriminative touch
Temperature
Pain”
What type of receptor is used to tap, squeeze, rub, skin stretch, non-discriminative touch?
Mechanoreceptor
What type of receptor is used for hot and cold?
Thermoreceptor
What type of receptor is used for mechanical or thermal tissue damage?
Mechano-thermal nociceptors
What type of receptor is used for heat, tissue damage, chemicals?
Polymodal nociceptor
What type of receptor is used for nociception (sympathetic); physiological (parasympathetic)?
Visceral
Interoception involves sensitivity to what?
Visceral physiological information
What constitutes “the material me” and relates to how we perceive feelings from our bodies that determine our mood, sense of well-being and emotions?
Interoception
Describe interoceptive receptors.
They are visceral afferent free nerve endings that mediate pain, pressure, temperature, chemicals and stretch in organs and blood vessels
Proprioceptive receptors mediate what using what type of neurons?
Muscle/joint position and movement using fast conducting, large axons (A-alpha, beta)
The major categories of perceived somatosensory modalities are distinguished not just by their receptors and conduction velocity, but also by what?
Their ascending pathways
Proprioception ascends in what columns?
Dorsal
What information ascends in both the dorsal column and anterolateral system?
Visceral sensory
What modality(ies) is characterized by sensitive mechanoreceptors, rapid AP conduction, dorsal column-leminiscal system, and quantitative sense that provides localization of the stimulus?
Discriminative touch, vibration and proprioception
What modality(ies) is characterized by free nerve endings, slower AP conduction, anterolateral system, and provides qualitative experience of the stimulus?
“Non-discriminative touch
Temperature
Pain”
The dorsal column-lemniscal system is responsible for conveying first, second, and third order neuron information of touch, vibration, proprioception and visceral (partially) to the cerebral cortex via what three CNS structures?
Spinal cord, brain stem and thalamus
Which order of neurons are: associated with thalamus, form part of internal capsule, and project to primary somatosensory cortex in postcentral gyrus?
Third order
Which order of neurons are: associated with cuneate and gracile nuclei, decussate in the medulla, and axons form medial lemniscus which synapse onto neurons within the thalamus?
Second order
Which order of neurons are: associated with sensory neuron axons (A-beta), form dorsal columns, and synapse onto dorsal column nuclei in the medulla?
First order
The anterolateral system conveyes non-discriminative touch, pain and temperature senses. Only part of it has what, seen in the dorsal column-lemniscal system?
The tidy first, second, and third order neuronal pattern
In the posterolateral (lissauer’s) tract, which order neurons: branch rostrally and caudally along the posterolateral tract, has sensory nerves that can extend 3-4 spinal levels in both directsion before entering the dorsal horn along several spinal segments, and is subject to painful stimuli which can elicit avoidance responces from a large region of the body because of their acces to several spinal segments?
First order A-delta and C neurons
what type of neurons synapse onto second order dorsal horn neurons using various transmitters including substance P, glutamate, and NO?
Sensory (first order) neurons
Second order neurons in the dorsal horn decussate to what?
The anterolateral system