10/7/2010

Sensory Receptors
Sensory Receptors (some basic properties)

Organs which
receive information
from outside or
within the body and
send it to the
central nervous
system for
processing

Sensory Receptors Sensory Receptors Are Transducers

(some basic properties)

Specialised nerve ending Definition of a Transducer or Transduction

Conversion of one form of energy (e.g. heat,
Activated by
pressure, chemical) into another form: e.g. electrical
various forms
of energy: energy or depolarisation
light heat
light, heat,
mechanical
The depolarisation occurring at the sensory terminal is
chemical etc. a). Graded – Non-propagating, confined to terminal
b). Called the Receptor Potential (R.P.)

Specialised
cells
Sensory receptors are either specialized endings of afferent
neurones or separate cells that signal to the afferent neurone
The Receptor Potential:
If large enough will evoke all or nothing action
potentials that propagate along the nerve fibre

The Receptor Potential Intensity of Stimulus is Linearly Encoded

Variable stimulus
intensity

10mV Produces graded

receptor potentials

Adequate stimulus

Produces variable
patterns of
action potentials
in the CNS

The number of action potentials generated by a pressure-

sensitive sensory afferent neuron is directly proportional
More Stimulus = More Transmitter Released to the stimulus intensity.

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Receptor Potential:
more or less proportional to stimulus Who can guess how a membrane
of a neurone could react to
stimulus receptor potential pressure or temperature by a
change in membrane potential?
adaptation
mV

Adaptation to stimulus depends on receptor type

Adaptation: A Mechanism Preventing Specific types of sensory receptors for

Sensory Information Overload
different mechanosensory stimulation
The off
response Skin:
Paccinian
Corpuscles
pressure/touch

Muscle:
stretch
receptors

Different receptors vary in their speed of adaptation to stimuli

Receptor Specificity Sensory Processing:

spatial discrimination
Receptors have a differential sensitivity to
different energies or stimuli

Mechanoreceptors Photoreceptors Chemoreceptors Sensory afferent (A)

nerve ending has a more spatially
limited receptive field
than sensory afferent
neuron (B).

A receptor is specific to one energy (or stimulus), because

it is most sensitive to that energy. Other energies may
stimulate but only at high intensities.

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Sensory Processing: Sensory Processing:

spatial discrimination – the paired point test spatial discrimination
Lips Back

Overlapping stimulation between

neighboring receptive fields
provides
id generall information
i f ti
about the location of a stimulus.

Sensory Processing: Sensory Processing:

density of sensory afferent terminals descending modulation from higher centres
Painful Condition

Stimulus A
occurs in an area
of greater nerve
ending density

Stimulus A will
generate Painful Condition Descending input
a greater number & Fight or Flight
of action
potentials than
stimulus B.

Sensory Processing: sensory discrimination

Context and Sensory Perception

Deliver information about location- Provide background

specific changes in touch and information about
Monty Python & the Holy Grail
temperature in the periphery. touch and temperature

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Sensory Modality Representation is Location

Convergence of sensory pathways is one of the reasons
for “referred” pain from visceral organs
Specific in the Cerebral Cortex

Sensory Representation is Cortex

Summary:

1. Sensory receptors allow our body to interact with the external environment
Fine discrimination 2. Sensory receptors in internal organs are essential for homeostasis and
is highly represented also alert the body in case of some anomaly
3. Some receptors adapt fast, others slow and some – almost not at all.
4. The intensity of the stimulus is encoded by the frequency of the action
potentials.
5. Most receptors detect the stimulus via a subset of highly specialised ion
channels which open (Na+) or close (K+) to evoke depolarisation of the
membrane of the sensory ending in response to the stimulus.
6. Information sent from the receptors is called AFFERENT information. In the
cortical homunculus CNS it is usual that several afferent neurones contact the same
postsynaptic cell. This is the convergence, which is also a reason for
referred pain.
7. The organs with the highest tactile sensitivity have the largest
representations in the “sensory homunculus”