St. Luke’s College of Medicine – William H.

Quasha Memorial
PHYSIOLOGY BLOCK 1

Lecture: 5. Sensory Receptor, Afferent and Efferent Fiber Physiology Date: August 5, 2015
Lecturer: Antonio Pasco III, MD, FPSP Trans Team: Manalaysay, Mangahis, Mariano, Mateo

Table 1. Sensory Receptors and the Stimuli it transduces

Topic Outline

I. Learning Objectives Sensory Receptor Stimulus

II. Definition of Terms
Special Vision, audition, taste, olfaction, balance
III. Sensory Receptors
Superficial Touch, pressure, flutter, vibration, tickle,
A. Classifications of Sensory Receptors
warmth,
B. Characteristics and Functions of
Sensory Receptors Deep Position, kinesthesia, deep pressure, deep
pain
IV. Sensory Coding
V. Clinical Correlation Visceral Hunger, nausea, distention, visceral pain
VI. Afferent Fiber
VII. Transfer of Sensory Information
VIII. Efferent Fiber
B. Characteristics and Functions of Sensory Receptors
IX. Fiber Types or Classification
X. Nerve Conduction - has “differential sensitivities”: highly sensitive and specific
XI. Clinical Correlation to only one type of stimulus but almost nonresponsive to
other types of sensory stimuli
• requires “adequate stimulus”: particular form of
I. Learning Objectives energy/stimulus the receptor is most sensitive to
- Define what a sensory receptor is • e.g. rods and cones are highly responsive to light but
- Describe its type or classification are almost completely nonresponsive to normal
- Enumerate and describe its characteristics and ranges of heat. cold, pressure on the eyeballs
function
- Explain the different types of sensory coding
- transduces environmental energy to electronic potential
(eg:indentations on the skin)
- Correlate some clinical conditions
A. Mechanism: change in membrane permeability of
I. Definition of Terms receptor allows ion to diffuse resulting in change in
transmembrane potential may be executed:
- protein receptors:receptors that are usually attached 1. mechanical deformation
to/connected with an enzyme (*different from sensory 2. application of chemical to membrane
receptors) 3. change of temperature by the membrane
- receptor : where detecting changes in the environment 3. effects of electromagnetic radiation
(whether inside or outside of the body) would occur B. Receptor Potential/Generator Potential
- stimulus: environmental events/ situations/ changes • in stimulus intensity in generator potential
detected by the receptor • in action potential firing frequency and duration
- stimulus transduction: transfer of electronic potential from C. Separate Receptor and Afferent Fiber
sensory receptor to CN; :changes one form of energy into - The threshold level: a change of positive 15 millivolts;
another form of energy if this is reached an action potential occurs. Positive
- sensory pathway: pathway from sensory receptor to CNS action potential. It is different with a depolarization in
- motor pathway : pathway from the integrating center a sense that depolarization is local, it doesn’t
towards the effector organs propagate or a graded potential. Graded potential can
- response: effect of the changes that the receptor summate in order to reach the threshold level and
perceived (eg: skeletal muscle contraction, smooth produce an action potential. An action potential is all
muscle contraction, glands secretion) or none. It can be propagated all throughout the
nerve.
II. Sensory Receptors - Subthreshold stimulus/potential: below 15 mv.
- specialized structures in which the receptor cells is - If the maximal effect is already reached, the
connected with an afferent neuron. It is specialized supramaximal effect only produces a maximal effect.
because changes in receptor is easily reflected into the - has property of adaptation
nerve cell A. adapts partially or completely to any continuous
- receives information/detects changes in the environment stimulus after a period of time
and then transducer these changes into electrical B. high impulse rate at first then progressively slower until
potential few to none
C. Mechanisms:
III. Classifications of Sensory Receptors • readjustments of the structure of the receptor
• electrical type of accommodation in the terminal nerve
- Mechanoreceptors: receptors in the skin/muscles (eg: free fibril
nerve endings/Meissner’s corpuscle, Pacinian • progressive inactivation of sodium channels
corpuscle) (Pacinian corpuscle being the most studied D. Examples of Adaptation
receptor since it’s big and visible to the eye) • Tonic Receptors
- Thermoreceptors: detect cold and warmth o slowly adapting receptors
- Nociceptors: detect changes in pain/gravity of pain (usually o detect continuous stimulus strength
free nerve endings) o keep the brain constantly appraised of the status of
- Electromagnetic receptors: vision, rods & cones in the eyes the body and its relation to its surroundings
- Chemoreceptors: usually found in the body (taste, change o e.g. muscle spindles, Golgi tendon organs, receptors
in blood sugar level, changes in CO2 and O2 levels or of the macula in the vestibular apparatus, pain
some other chemicals found in the body) receptors, baroreceptors of the arterial tree,
- Other receptors: chemoreceptors of the aortic and carotid bodies
Teleceptors (far from the body) • Phasic Receptors
Exteroceptors (outside the body)
o rapidly adapting receptors
Interoceptors (inside the body)
Proprioceptors (detect changes in the position)
o “rate or movement receptors”
Special, Superficial, Deep, Visceral o detect change in stimulus strength
o react strongly while a change is actually taking place
o cannot be used to transmit continuous signal
o conversion of receptor stimulus to recognisable
sensation

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o aspects of stimulus encoded in order for CNS to
interpret it : (e.g.,sensory modality, spatial
location,stimulus intensity, duration)
o Based on: sensory receptor activated; response of
receptor to the stimulus; information processing in the
pathway
o e.g. Pacinian corpuscle- important in appraising the
nervous system of rapid tissue deformations
- environmental energy to electronic potential
• Maximum receptor potential amplitude: around 100mV,
occurs at high intensity of sensory stimulus; point
where membrane is maximally permeable to sodium
ions
• When receptor potential rises above threshold, action
potentials occur
Figure 1. Excitation of a sensory nerve fiber by a receptor potential
III. Sensory Coding
- conversion of receptor stimulus to recognizable sensation
- aspects of stimulus encoded in order for CNS to interpret
it
- based on:
A. type of sensory receptor activated
B. response of receptor to the stimulus
C. information processing to the pathway that goes to
the brain
- aspects of stimuli that can be coded:
A. sensory modality
• type of energy transmitted
• readily identified class of sensation
• follows adequate stimulus
B. spatial location
• site on the body or space where the stimulus
originates
• site of activation of particular population of sensory
receptor
• identified by the receptive field of a sensory unit
Figure 2. Representation of the different areas of the body in
somatosensory area of the corte
C. stimulus intensity
• signaled by the response amplitude or frequency of
action potential generation
• Weber-Fechner Law: change in response of a
receptor is directly proportional to the logarithmic
increase in intensity of stimulus
• encoded by:
o frequency of discharge
o number of sensory receptors activated
D. duration
• time from the start to end of a response in the
receptor
• property of adaptation or desensitization
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IV. Clinical Correlation
- Stereognosis
• perception of form and nature of an object without
looking at it.
• depends on intact touch and pressure
- Tactile Agnosia
• inability to identify object with touch
V. Afferent Fiber
- transmit signals, impulses, information, from the receptor
to the integrating center
-> usually sensory because they originate from the
receptors while Efferent is usually motor
- destinations: gray matter of the spinal cord, higher levels
of spinal cord, brain stem, cerebral cortex
VI. Transfer of Sensory Information
3 Laws :
- Labeled Line Principle
• termination at a specic point in the CNS determines the
receptor/perception of the fiber
• type of sensation felt is determined by where the fiber
leads in the CNS
o pain will be perceived if the pain fiber is stimulated,
regardless of the stimulus type
o touch will be perceived if the touch fiber is stimulated
o fibers from the retina of the eye terminate in the vision
areas
• specificity of nerve fibers for transmitting only one type
of modality of sensation
o eg: PAIN—> Pain receptor —> transmitted to the Pain
fiber—> ends up ONLY at the PAIN part of the brain
- Law of Specific Nerve Energies
• specific sensory pathways from sense organs to cortex
• sensation also depends on specific part of the brain that
is ultimately activated
• Muller’s law
• Eg : tumour along the pathway of a pacinian corpuscle
will only evoke touch sensation
- Law of Projection
• no matter where a particular sensory pathway is
stimulated, the conscious perception is referred back to
the location of the receptor
• the perception is still within the receptor where it
originates
• e.g. corticular stimulation of receiveing area for left
hand; sensation is felt at the left hand, not the head.
VII. Efferent Fiber
- doesn’t follow laws unlike the afferent fiber
- nerves that conduct signals from the Central Nervous
System along motor neurons to their target muscles and
glands
- functions of a motor neuron are:
A. carry an electrical signal to a muscle (skeletal or
smooth), triggering it to either contract or relax
B. carry a signal to glands to increase or decrease its
activity
- movements/contraction of skeletal muscle: somatic motor
system
- activity of glands and smooth muscles : autonomic nervous
system
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VIII. Fiber Types or Classification • axon diameter nerve conduction velocity

• If same diameter: unmyelinated > myelinated, in
terms of nerve conduction velocity
• “The large axons are concerned primarily with
proprioceptive sensation, somatic motor
function, conscious touch, and pressure, while
the smaller axons subserve pain and
temperature sensations and autonomic
function.”
B. temperature
• temperature nerve conduction velocity
C. resting membrane potential
• resting membrane potential (near threshold),
nerve conduction velocity
D. firing level, threshold
E. myelination
• myelination nerve conduction velocity
- nerve conduction failure
• weak electronic conduction
• slow electronic conduction
-Different types of fibers are susceptible to different
things:
Table 2. Susceptibility of different types of fibers

Susceptibility To Most Intermediate Least

Susceptible Susceptible

Hypoxia B A C

Pressure A B C
Figure 2. Physiological Classifications and Functions Of Nerve Fibers.
Local Anesthetics C B A
- Myelinated or Unmyelinated
- Size:
-Strong Electrotonic Conduction (For a strong/fast
-Large (usually myelinated)
electrotonic conduction)
-Medium
:decreased axoplasmic and ECF resistance and
-Small (usually unmyelinated)
membrane capacitance
-e.g.: motor spindle/muscle spindle are usually large
:increased membrane resistance
and myelinated
- General Classification X. Clinical Correlation
• A- large myelinated fibers of spinal nerve - paresthesias
• C- small unmyelinated fibers that conduct impulses at • pins and needles or tingling sensation
low velocities • excessive activity in the sensory pathway
- Sensory Nerve Classification - numbness
• loss of sensory function
• Ia-fibers from muscle spindle endings
- shingles
• Ib-fibers from Golgi tendon organs • herpes zoster virtus infection = chicken pox
• II-fibers from most discrete cutaneous tactile • dormant but viable in primary sensory neuron
receptors; from flower-spray endings of muscle • reactivated virus increases excitability of sensory neurons
spindles ✓ very low threshold and sponatanrous activity
• III-fibers carrying temperature, crude touch, and - brubning stabbing pain sensation, skin becomes
prickling pain sensations sensitive and inflammed, with blisters and scaling
• IV-unmyelinated fibers carrying itch, pain, temperature along a dermatome
and crude touch sensations - muscle neuropathy
IX. Nerve Conduction ✓ muscle weakness: causing unsteadiness and diffculty
performing small movements such as buttoning the
- electronic conduction shirt
• passive flow of local current to adjacent membrane areas ✓ muscle wasting
(depolarized polarized areas)
✓ muscle twitching and cramps
- flow of current and their components
A. Axoplasmic- Internal longitudinal (along the axon) ✓ muscle paralysis
B. Membrane- Radial (going across the membrane of - motor neuropathy
axon) ✓ carpal tunnel syndrome: caused by compression of
C.Extracellular Fluid - Longitudinal the nerves in the sheath of the wrist
- factors affecting electronic conduction ✓ radial nerve palsy: caused by draping an arm over
A. axoplasmic pressure (against axoplasmic flow) the back of a chair for a long time during deep sleep
• axoplasmic pressure electronic conduction ✓ bell’s palsy: single-nerve neuropathy that affects the
B.axoplasmic resistance-resistance of the axoplasm that face
will decrease the electrotonic conduction - motor neuron disease (MND)
C. extracellular fluid resistance (usually constant) ✓ a progressive weakness of many of the muscles in
• axoplasmic pressure electronic conduction the body
D. membrane resistance
• thick mebrane, myelinated
✓ motor nerves become damaged and eventually stop
working; the muscles that the damaged nerves
•membrane resistance, axoplasmic current
supply gradually lose their strength
electronic conduction
E. membrane capacitance (ability to resist any change ✓ Amyothropic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig’s
in potential) Disease and Charcot Disese: a specific disorde that
• low in myelinated membrane involves the death of neurons
• membrane capacitance electronic conduction - nerve injury
• high capacitance - resist change ->will hasten the ✓ Neuropraxia: physiological block of nerve conduction
electrotonic conduction within an axon without any anatomical interruption
• low resistance- can easily change potential ✓ Axonotmesis: anatomical interruption of the axon with
- other factors affecting nerve conduction velocity no or only partial interruption of the connective tissue
A. axon diameter frameworkl

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✓ Neurotmesis: complete anatomical disruption of both

the axon and all of the surrounding connective tissue
(rupture of the nerve)

- Seddon- Sunderland Classification of Nerve Injury

• Grade 1: neuropraxia
• Grade 2: axonotmesis
• Grade 3: neurotmesis with preservation of perineurium
• Grade 4: neurotmesis with preservation of epineurium
• Grade 5: neurotmesis with complete transection of
nerve trunk

XI. References
• Ganong’s Review of Medical Physiology
• Guyton and Hall Textbook of Medical Physiology
XII. Review Questions
1. What is labeled line principle? How is it related to law
of specific nerve energies and projection?
2. What is the effect of pressure or mechanical
distortion of the eyeball?
3. What is the difference of efferent fiber and afferent
fiber? Based on:
a. Direction of signal
b. Types of classification

XIII. QUIZ

A. Describe how sensory receptor adapt.

B. How are stimuli converted to electrical impulses? What
aspects are transmitted?
C. Differentiate the Type A muscle fiber from Type C muscle
fiber.
D. What is anesthesia and hyperesthesia?
E. What is visual agnosia, auditory agnosia, color agnosia, and
position agnosia?
F. How does a sensory receptor transduce stimulus?
G. Describe the different aspects of sensory coding.

Answers:
A. Through readjustments in the physical conformation of the
receptor and electrical accommodation.
B. Receptor potential needs to reach threshold for the action
potential to be propagated; sensory modality, spatial location,
stimulus intensity, duration
C. The type A muscle fibers are large myelinated, and the type
C are small and unmyelinated
D. Anesthesia is the lack of sensitivity or sensation and
Hyperesthesia is the pathologic oversensitivity of sense organs
E. Agnosia is generally defined as the loss of the ability to
recognize stimuli and is associated with neural injuries or
illnesses. Visual Agnosia corresponds to the inability to
recognize visual objects. Auditory agnosia corresponds to the
inability to recognize sounds. Color Agnosia corresponds to the
inability to distinguish colors. Position agnosia describes the
inability to recognize certain locations of oneself or objects in
relation to the environment.
F. A sensory receptor receives appropriate stimulus which it is
designed to detect and subsequently converts them into action
potentials which are transmitted along axons.
G. Reception- the absorption of sensory information
Transduction- conversion of physical energy into electrical
energy
Coding- the correspondence of the stimulus and the neuronal
signals
Awareness - a possible conscious perception

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