CHAPTER 8:  Eyelids

 Meet at the medial and lateral

SPECIAL SENSES
commissure (canthus)
Special Senses
 Eyelashes
 Special senses include:
 Tarsal glands produce an oily
 Smell secretion that lubricates the eye

 Taste  Ciliary glands are located

between the eyelashes.
 Sight
 Conjunctiva
 Hearing
 Membrane that lines the eyelids
 Equilibrium and eyeball
 Special sense receptors  Connects with the transparent
cornea
 Large, complex sensory organs  Secretes mucus to lubricate the
eye and keep it moist
 Localized clusters of receptors
 Lacrimal apparatus = lacrimal gland
Part I: The Eye and Vision
+ ducts
 70 percent of all sensory receptors are in
 Lacrimal gland—produces
the eyes
lacrimal fluid (tears); situated on
 Each eye has over 1 million nerve fibers lateral end of each eye
carrying information to the brain
 Tears drain across the eye into
Accessory structures include the: the lacrimal canaliculi, then the
lacrimal sac, and into the
 Extrinsic eye muscles nasolacrimal duct, which
 Eyelids empties into the nasal cavity

 Conjunctiva  Tears contain:

 Lacrimal apparatus  Dilute salt solution

 Mucus
 Antibodies
 Lysozyme (enzyme that
destroys bacteria)
 Function of tears
 Cleanse, protect, moisten,
lubricate the eye

External and Accessory Structures

 Internal Structures: The Eyeball
 Extrinsic eye muscles
 Six muscles attach to the outer
surface of the eye
 Produce gross eye movements
 Three layers, or tunics, form the wall of
the eyeball
 Fibrous layer: outside layer
 Vascular layer: middle layer
 Sensory layer: inside layer
 Humors are fluids that fill the interior of
the eyeball
 Lens divides the eye into two
chambers
  The only human tissue
that can be transplanted
without fear of rejection
 Vascular layer
 Choroid is a blood-rich
nutritive layer that contains a
pigment (prevents light from
scattering)
 Choroid is modified
anteriorly into two
smooth muscle
structures
 Ciliary body
 Iris—regulates amount of light
entering eye
 Pigmented layer that
gives eye color
 Pupil—rounded opening in the
iris
 Sensory layer
 Retina contains two layers
 Outer pigmented layer
absorbs light and
prevents it from
 Fibrous layer = sclera + cornea scattering

 Sclera  Inner neural layer

contains receptor cells
 White connective tissue (photoreceptors)
layer
 Rods
 Seen anteriorly as the
“white of the eye”  Cones

 Cornea  Vascular layer

 Transparent, central  Choroid is a blood-rich

anterior portion nutritive layer that contains a
pigment (prevents light from
 Allows for light to pass scattering)
through
 Choroid is modified
 Repairs itself easily anteriorly into two
 smooth muscle 
structures
 Ciliary body
 Iris—regulates amount of light
entering eye
 Pigmented layer that
gives eye color
 Pupil—rounded opening in the
iris
 Sensory layer
 Retina contains two layers
 Outer pigmented layer
absorbs light and
prevents it from
scattering
 Inner neural layer
contains receptor cells
(photoreceptors)
 Rods
 Cones

 Sensory layer (continued)

 Electrical signals pass from
photoreceptors via a two-neuron
chain
 Bipolar neurons
  Ganglion cells
 Signals leave the retina toward
the brain through the optic nerve
 Optic disc (blind spot) is where
the optic nerve leaves the
eyeball
 Cannot see images
focused on the optic
disc
Sensory layer (continued)
 Rods
 Most are found toward
the edges of the retina
 Allow vision in dim  Held in place by a suspensory
light and peripheral ligament attached to the ciliary
vision body
 All perception is in gray
tones
 Lens divides the eye into two
 Cones chambers
 Allow for detailed color 1. Anterior (aqueous) segment
vision
 Anterior to the lens
 Densest in the center of  Contains aqueous humor, a
the retina clear, watery fluid
 Fovea centralis–lateral 1. Posterior (vitreous) segment
to blind spot
 Posterior to the lens
 Area of the retina with  Contains vitreous humor, a gel-
only cones like substance
 Visual acuity (sharpest
vision) is here
 Aqueous humor
 No photoreceptor cells
are at the optic disc, or o Watery fluid found between lens
blind spot and cornea
o Similar to blood plasma
 Lens o Helps maintain intraocular
 Flexible, biconvex crystal-like pressure
structure
 o Provides nutrients for the lens  Accommodation—the lens must
and cornea change shape to focus on closer
objects (less than 20 feet away)
o Reabsorbed into venous blood
through the scleral venous sinus,
or canal of Schlemm

 Vitreous humor
 Gel-like substance posterior to
the lens
 Prevents the eye from collapsing
 Helps maintain intraocular
pressure

 Ophthalmoscope
o Instrument used to illuminate
the interior of the eyeball and
 Pathway of light through the eye and
fundus (posterior wall)
light refraction (continued)
o Can detect diabetes,
 Image formed on the retina is a
arteriosclerosis, degeneration of real image
the optic nerve and retina
 Real images are:
 Reversed from left to
Physiology of Vision right
 Pathway of light through the eye and  Upside down
light refraction
 Smaller than the object
 Light must be focused to a point
on the retina for optimal vision
 Light is bent, or refracted, by
the cornea, aqueous humor,
lens, and vitreous humor
 The eye is set for distant vision  Summary of the pathway of impulses
(over 20 feet away) from the retina to the point of visual
interpretation
1. Optic nerve
2. Optic chiasma
3. Optic tract
4. Thalamus
5. Optic radiation
 6. Optic cortex in occipital lobe of
brain
A Closer Look
 Emmetropia – eye focuses images
correctly on the retina
 Myopia (nearsightedness)
 Distant objects appear blurry
 Light from those objects fails to
reach the retina and are focused
in front of it
 Results from an eyeball that is
too long
 Hyperopia (farsightedness)
 Near objects are blurry, whereas
distant objects are clear
 Distant objects are focused
behind the retina
 Results from an eyeball that is
too short or from a “lazy lens”
 Astigmatism
 Images are blurry
 Results from light focusing as
lines, not points, on the retina
because of unequal curvatures
of the cornea or lens
 Eye
reflexes
 Convergence: reflexive
movement of the eyes medially
when we focus on a close object
 Photopupillary reflex: bright
light causes pupils to constrict
 Accommodation pupillary
reflex: viewing close objects
causes pupils to constrict
Part II: The Ear: Hearing and Balance
  Ear houses two senses
1. Hearing
2. Equilibrium (balance)
 Receptors are mechanoreceptors
 Different organs house receptors for
each sense
 The ear is divided into three areas
1. External (outer) ear
2. Middle ear
3. Internal (inner) ear
Anatomy of the Ear
 External (outer) ear
 Auricle (pinna)
 External acoustic meatus
(auditory canal)
 Narrow chamber in the
temporal bone
 Lined with skin and
ceruminous (earwax)
glands
 Ends at the tympanic
membrane (eardrum)
 External ear is involved only in
collecting sound waves
 Middle ear cavity (tympanic cavity)
 Air-filled, mucosa-lined cavity
within the temporal bone
 Involved only in the sense of
hearing
 Located between tympanic
membrane and oval window and
round window
 Pharyngotympanic tube (auditory tube)
 Links middle ear cavity with the
throat
 Equalizes pressure in the middle
ear cavity so the eardrum can
vibrate
 Middle ear cavity (tympanic cavity)
(continued)
 Three bones (ossicles) span the
cavity
1. Malleus (hammer)
2. Incus (anvil)
3. Stapes (stirrup)
 Function
 Transmit vibrations
from tympanic
membrane to the fluids
of the inner ear
 Vibrations travel from
the hammer → anvil →
stirrup → oval window
of inner ear
 Internal (inner) ear
 Includes sense organs for
hearing and balance
 Bony labyrinth (osseous
labyrinth) consists of:
 Cochlea
 Vestibule
 Semicircular canals
  Bony labyrinth is filled with
perilymph
 Membranous labyrinth
is suspended in
perilymph and contains
endolymph
Equilibrium
 Equilibrium receptors of the inner ear
are called the vestibular apparatus
 Vestibular apparatus has two functional
parts
1. Static equilibrium
2. Dynamic equilibrium
Static Equilibrium
 Maculae—receptors in the vestibule
 Report on the position of the
head
 Help us keep our head erect
 Send information via the
vestibular nerve (division of
cranial nerve VIII) to the
cerebellum of the brain
 Anatomy of the maculae Dynamic Equilibrium

 Hair cells are embedded in the  Crista ampullaris

otolithic membrane  Responds to angular or
 Otoliths (tiny stones) float in a rotational movements of the
gel around hair cells head

 Movements cause otoliths to roll  Located in the ampulla of each

and bend hair cells semicircular canal
 Tuft of hair cells covered with
cupula (gelatinous cap)
 If the head moves, the cupula
drags against the endolymph
 Hair cells are stimulated, and
the impulse travels the
vestibular nerve to the
cerebellum
  Gel-like tectorial membrane is
capable of bending hair cells
 Cochlear nerve attached to hair
cells transmits nerve impulses to
auditory cortex on temporal lobe

Hearing
 Spiral organ of Corti
 Located within the cochlear duct
 Receptors = hair cells on the
basilar membrane

 Pathway of vibrations from sound waves
 Move by the ossicles from the
eardrum to the oval window
 Sound is amplified by the
ossicles
 Pressure waves cause vibrations
in the basilar membrane in the
spiral organ of Corti
 Hair cells of the tectorial
membrane are bent when the
basilar membrane vibrates
against it
 An action potential starts in the
cochlear nerve (cranial nerve
VIII), and the impulse travels to
the temporal lobe
 High-pitched sounds disturb the short,
stiff fibers of the basilar membrane
 Receptor cells close to the oval
window are stimulated
 Low-pitched sounds disturb the long,
floppy fibers of the basilar membrane
 Specific hair cells further along
the cochlea are affected
Part III: Chemical Senses: Smell and
Taste
 Chemoreceptors
 Stimulated by chemicals in
solution
 Taste has five types of
receptors
 Smell can differentiate a
wider range of chemicals
 Both senses complement each other
and respond to many of the same
stimuli
Olfactory Receptors and the Sense of
Smell
 Olfactory receptors are in roof of
nasal cavity
 Olfactory receptor cells
(neurons) with long cilia
known as olfactory hairs
detect chemicals
  Chemicals must be dissolved
in mucus for detection by
chemoreceptors called
olfactory receptors
 Impulses are transmitted via the
olfactory filaments to the olfactory
nerve (cranial nerve I)
 Smells are interpreted in the
olfactory cortex

Taste Buds and the Sense of Taste

 Taste buds house the receptor organs
 Locations of taste buds
 Most are on the tongue Taste Buds and the Sense of Taste

 Soft palate  Gustatory cells are the taste receptors

 Superior part of the pharynx  Possess gustatory hairs (long

microvilli)
 Cheeks
 Gustatory hairs protrude
 The tongue is covered with through a taste pore
projections called papillae that
contain taste buds  Hairs are stimulated by
chemicals dissolved in saliva
 Vallate (circumvallate) papillae
 Fungiform papillae
 Filiform papillae
 Part IV: Developmental Aspects of the
Special Senses
 Impulses are carried to the gustatory
complex by several cranial nerves
because taste buds are found in
different areas
 Facial nerve (cranial nerve
VII)
 Glossopharyngeal nerve
(cranial nerve IX)
 Vagus nerve (cranial nerve
X)
 Taste buds are replaced frequently by
basal cells
 Five basic taste sensations
 Sweet receptors respond to
sugars, saccharine, some
amino acids
 Sour receptors respond to H+
ions or acids
 Bitter receptors respond to
alkaloids
 Salty receptors respond to
metal ions
 Umami receptors respond to
the amino acid glutamate or
the beefy taste of meat
 Special sense organs are formed
early in embryonic development
 Maternal infections during the first 5
or 6 weeks of pregnancy may cause
visual abnormalities as well as
sensorineural deafness in the
developing child
 Vision requires the most learning
 The infant has poor visual acuity (is
farsighted) and lacks color vision and
depth perception at birth
 The eye continues to grow and
mature until age
8 or 9
 Age-related eye issues
 Presbyopia—“old vision”
results from decreasing lens
elasticity that accompanies
aging
 Causes difficulty to
focus for close vision
 Lacrimal glands become less
active
 Lens becomes discolored
 Dilator muscles of iris
become less efficient, causing
pupils to remain constricted
 The newborn infant can hear sounds,
but initial responses are reflexive
 By the toddler stage, the child is
listening critically and beginning to
imitate sounds as language
development begins
 Age-related ear problems
  Presbycusis—type of
sensorineural deafness that
may result from otosclerosis
 Otosclerosis—ear
ossicles fuse
 Congenital ear problems
usually result from missing
pinnas and closed or missing
external acoustic meatuses
 Taste and smell are most acute at
birth and decrease in sensitivity after
age 40 as the number of olfactory
and gustatory receptors decreases