Somatosensory Nervous System (touch, pain, temperature)

The synapse

Lateral inhibition occurs in this place in relation to the neuron

Frequency

When a receptor potential is fired, a larger stimulus increases this instead of the amplitude

Modality

A term that means stimulus type

The Center of the field

Responses of a sensory cell to a stimulus are larger in this part of the field compared to the edge of the field

Central Nervous System

Sensations and perception (types of conscious information) occur after this modifies or processes the sensory information

ischemia, imflammation

The Acid-sensing ion channels (ASICs) detect this kind of information/stimulus

Heat

The Capsaicin receptor or TRPV1 dectects this kind of information for free nerve endings

Damage, inflammation, ischemia

The P2X (ATP) receptors detect this kind of stimulus/information

Spinal cord

The pain and temperature anterolateral pathway crosses this and ends up on the contralateral side of the brain

Sensory Transduction

The process by which a stimulus such as a photon of light or a mechanical stretch of tissue is transformed into an electrical response is known as this

Dorsal Roots

The regions of gray matter projecting toward the back of the body within the spinal cord

Brainstem

The touch, pressure, and position dorsal column pathway does not cross at the spinal cord but instead crosses here and ends of on the contralateral side of the brain

Touch and smell

The type of information that is mediated by long receptors

Nociceptors

These are general receptors are a general category of detectors that sense pain due to actual or potential tissue damage.

touch, pressure, pain, temperature, body position (proprioception)

These are the five somatosensory modalities

Meissner's and Merkle's corpuscles

These two of touch receptors detects touch and pressure

Short Receptors

These types of receptors send information to another the afferent neuron before the information reaches the CNS. This receptor does not have an axon usually expresses Ca2+ channels and not Na+ channels.

Long Receptors

These types of somatosensory receptors carry the information directly to the CNS. They tend to have a long axon which is myelinated and tends to express Na+ v-gated channels that help the action potential propagate.

Thermoreceptors

This class of receptors detect sensations of cold or warmth

Mechanoreceptors

This class of receptors responds to mechanical stimuli such as pressure or stretch and are responsible for sensory info like touch, blood pressure, and muscle tension

Adaptation

This is a decrease in receptor sensitivity which results in a decrease in action potential frequency in an afferent neuron despite the continuous presence of a stimulus

Receptive Field

This is the receptive space that is detected the receptor cell

Post central gyrus

This part of the brain processes somatosensory information

Lateral Inhibition

This phenomenon helps sharpen the stimulus by strongly inhibiting information from afferent neurons whose receptors are at the edge of a stimulus making it so the main focus is at the center.

Receptor Potential

This type of graded potential occurs in a long receptor and when when the stimulus increases the frequency increases

Free nerve endings

This type of touch receptor detects mainly pain but also touch, temperature and touch

Vision, sound, taste

the type of information that is mediated by short receptors