Sensory System

Sensory Organs (Receptors)

• Monitor the internal and external

environment
• Transmit signals from periphery to
CNS for processing
• Critical for homeostasis
 Types of Sensory Receptors
Functional Types
• Based on modality (type of environmental change they sense)
1. Chemoreceptors
• respond to changes in chemical concentration (reflex responses to blood
CO2 , pH, olfaction, taste)
2. Thermoreceptors
• respond to temperature changes (cutaneous receptors)
3. Mechanoreceptors
• Respond to mechanical energy (touch, pressure vibration in skin, hearing
and balance in the inner ear)
4. Photoreceptors
• Respond to light (vision)
5. Nociceptors
• respond to tissue damage (pain)
6. Proprioceptors
• In muscles, tendons and ligaments (muscle spindle apparatuses, Golgi
tendon organs)
 Sensory Adaptation
• Two types of responses of
sensors to constant
stimulation:
• Phasic receptors
– exhibit sensory adaptation
– firing rate of receptor (#
APs) decreases with
Fig 7.1
constant stimulus
• Tonic receptors
– exhibit little adaptation
– maintain constant firing
rate as long as stimulus is
applied
 Four Steps to Sensation
1. Stimulation
– application of stimulus
– Sensors are most sensitive to one
particular stimulus (e.g., light
stimulus versus punch to the eye)
2. Transduction
– Stimulation of sensor induces
graded potentials in sensory neuron
– If strong enough  depolarization,
AP results
 Generator potential = EPSP,
depolarization in dendrites of
sensory neurons
– ↑ stimulus strength above
threshold  ↑ AP firing rate
 Four Steps to Sensation
3. Conduction
– relay information
through a sensory
pathway to a specific
CNS region
4. Perception
– Awareness of Fig 7.17

environmental
change by CNS
– Evaluation of nature
and magnitude of
stimulus
 Classification of Sensory Input
• Somatesthetic senses
– sensors located over wide areas of the body
(i.e., cutaneous receptors and proprioseptors)
– Information usually conducted to the spinal cord
first (then possibly the brain)
• Special Senses
– Changes detected only by specialized sensory
organs in the head
– Information conducted directly to the brain
Somatesthetic Senses
• Proprioceptors
– Sensory receptors in muscles,
tendons and joints
– Detect stretch of muscles, limb
movements, position of body
parts, etc.
– Examples: spindle fibers, Golgi
tendon organs
• Cutaneous receptors
– Sensory receptors present in the
skin
– Touch and Pressure
– Heat and Cold
– Pain
 Cutaneous Sensor Structure (just FYI)
• Heat, cold, and pain
– Free dendritic endings of
sensory neurons
• Touch
– Dendrites wrapped around
hair follicles
– Expanded dendritic endings Fig 7.4
(Ruffini endings and Merkel's
disks)
• Pressure
– Encapsulated endings
(Meissner's corpuscles and
Pacinian corpusles)
Special Senses

• Taste
• Smell
• Equilibrium
• Hearing
• Vision
 Taste and Smell Depend on
Chemoreceptors
• Taste
• Taste cells :
- specialized epithelial cells within barrel-
shaped buds on tongue
- have microvilli extending into external
environment
- not neurons but respond to stimuli by
depolarization
- release chemical transmitters to stimulate
sensory neurons (yellow fibers on diagram)
• Which cranial nerves carry taste information
to the brain?
 Taste and Smell Depend on Chemoreceptors

• Taste
5 modalities of taste:
• Salty, sour, sweet, bitter and umami
(meat flavor due to glutamate)
• Each taste bud contains cells
sensitive to the 5 tastes
• A given sensory neuron is devoted
to a single taste
 Taste and Smell Depend on Chemoreceptors
• Taste
How is a particular taste detected?
1. Salty and sour tastes:
- activate taste sensitive cells by
passing through ion channels on
the membranes of these cells:
- presence of Na+ in food: salty
- presence of H+ in food: sour
2. Sweet, bitter and umami:
- produced through binding of
molecules to protein receptors
embedded in plasma membrane
Taste and Smell Depend on
Chemoreceptors
Smell (Olfaction):
• Receptors for olfaction are bipolar
sensory neurons partly embedded in
olfactory epithelium
• Bipolar neurons:
- 1 dendrite/cell projecting into nasal
cavity
- Dendritic end = knob of cilia
- Cilia contain receptor proteins for
smell
- olfactory protein receptors associated
with G-proteins
Taste and Smell Depend on
Chemoreceptors
Smell (Olfaction):
• Olfactory protein receptors on
bipolar neurons associated with
G-proteins
• G-proteins dissociate when
odorant binds to receptor
• G-protein subunit activates the
enzyme adenylate cyclase
• Adenylate cyclase produces
cyclic AMP necessary to open
Na+ and Ca++ transmembranous
channels  depolarization
• As many as 50 G-proteins
associated with each receptor
 high sensitivity to odors
Taste and Smell Depend on
Chemoreceptors
Smell (Olfaction):
• Action potential travels via axon of
bipolar neuron through cribriform
plate to olfactory bulb
• In olfactory bulb, axon synapses with
other neurons grouped in glomeruli
• Each glomerulus receives input from 1
particular type of olfactory receptor
• Olfactory information is then sent to
other brain regions (e.g., limbic
system)
 Hearing
• Neural perception of vibrations (sound waves) in
the air
• Pitch
– Frequency of sound waves
– Humans can hear frequencies between 20 and
2000 KHz
• Loudness
– Amplitude (size) of sound waves
– Measured in decibels
• Each 10 dB increase represents a tenfold
increase in amplitude
 Anatomy of the Ear:
Outer (External) Ear

• Pinna (Auricle)
– collects and channels
sound waves
• External Auditory Meatus
– Conduction of sound Fig 7.13
waves
• Tympanic Membrane
– vibrates when struck
by sound waves
 Anatomy of the Ear:
Middle Ear
• Air-filled chamber
• Eustachian(auditory) tube
– connects middle ear to
pharynx
• Three auditory ossicles
act as sound amplifiers
1. Malleus against tympanic
membrane
2. Incus
3. Stapes linked to oval
window
 Inner Ear
• Houses structures for the senses of
equilibrium and hearing.
• Bony labyrinth
– Series of curved passages within the
skull bones
– Two distinct regions
• Cochlea (anterior) – hearing
• Vestibular apparatus (posterior) –
equilibrium
– Semicircular canals, utricle and saccule
• Membranous labyrinth
– Membranous network that parallels the
bony network
– Perilymph - fluid between membranous
and bony labyrinths
– Endolymph – fluid contained within the
membranous labyrinth
 Anatomy of the Ear:
Cochlea
• Anterior portion of the inner ear,
contains hair cells that change
sound into action potentials;
• Three snail-shaped tubes filled
with fluid
– Outer canals
1. Scala vestibuli – upper
– Leads from oval window to apex
of the spiral, contains perilymph
2. Scala tympani – lower
– Leads from apex of the spiral to
the round window
• Located between bony and
membranous labyrinths
• filled with perilymph
• Continuous with one another
3. Cochlear duct
• Inner canal contained within the
membranous labyrinth
• Contains endolymph
 Hair Cells
• Mechanoreceptor cells responsible for the
senses of hearing AND equilibrium
– Housed within the membranous labyrinth
– Possess hair-like extensions known as
stereocilia on surface (in blue), and a
longer, single large kinocilium (in pink)
• Bending of stereocilia alters membrane
potential
– Bending toward kinocilium depolarizes
membrane
– Bending away from kinocilium
hyperpolarizes membrane
• Depolarization induces more
neurotransmitter to be released to
associated sensory neurons
– Greater AP frequency in sensory neurons
 Neural Conduction and
Perception of Auditory
Information
• Fluid pressure waves in perilymph cause
basilar membrane to vibrate
– Louder sounds causes bigger vibrations,
causing high frequency of APs.
– Sounds of different frequency (pitch):
a. low pitches vibrate membrane closer to
the apex most
b. higher pitches vibrate membrane closer to
the base of the cochlea most
Next:
• Hair cells move against tectorial
membrane, bending stereocilia
• Stimulates neurotransmitter release to
sensory neurons of the vestibulocochlear
nerve (VIII)
Figs 7.16 and 7.17
• Signals conducted to auditory cortex
(temporal lobe).
Vestibular Apparatus
Function: equilibrium
records changes in the position and
motion of the head, responsible for
balance and coordination of body
movement
• Fluid-filled compartments in the
inner ear
• 3 Semi-circular canals (anterior,
lateral and posterior)
– Record rotation of the head.
– Anterior – vertical movement
– Lateral – lateral movement
– Posterior – rotational movement
• Otolith organs
– Record the linear movement of head
and orientation relative to gravity
• Sensory information relayed via
the vestibulocochlear nerve (VIII) to
the cerebellum and medulla
 Steps in Hearing
The steps in hearing are:
1. Sound waves enter the external auditory canal.
2. The tympanic membrane vibrates.
3. The ossicles transmit vibrations across the middle ear cavity.
4. The stapes transmits the vibrations to the inner ear fluid.
5. Vibrations move cilia on hair cells of the organ of Corti in the cochlear
duct.
6. Movement against the tectorial membrane generates nerve impulses.
7. Impulses travel to the brain in the VIIIth cranial nerve.
8. The temporal lobe cortex interprets the impulses.
 Vision

• Photoreceptors
– stimulated by photons of light
– contain photopigments
• undergo chemical changes in response to light
• induces metabolic changes in photoreceptors
leading to receptor potential generation.
 steps in vision
• The steps in vision are:
1. Light refracts.
2. The muscles of the iris adjust the pupil.
3. The ciliary muscle adjusts the lens (accommodation).
4. The extrinsic eye muscles produce convergence.
5. Light stimulates retinal receptor cells (rods and cones).
6. The optic nerve transmits impulses to the brain.
7. The occipital lobe cortex interprets the impulses.
 Refractive Disorders:

• Myopia (Nearsightedness) - Distant object brought into focus in

front of the retina (Elongated eyeball)
• Hyperopia (Farsightedness) - Close object brought into focus
behind of the retina (Shortened eyeball)
• Astigmatism - Oblong shape to cornea or lens (not perfectly
symmetrical curve), different parts refract light to different degrees
 Retina Cells
• Photoreceptors
– rods and cones
• Bipolar cells
– Neurons that receive
neurotransmitter from the
photoreceptors
– Synapse with ganglion cells
• Ganglion cells Fig 7.25
– Neurons that receive
neurotransmitter from the
bipolar cells
– Conduct action potentials to CNS
(visual cortex of occipital lobe)
via the optic nerve (II)
 Photoreceptors
• Rods
– More numerous than cones
– Cannot distinguish different
colors
– Many rods converge onto single
ganglion cells
• Highly sensitive to light
(low light levels detected)
• Low visual acuity
Fig 7.25
(image not as sharp)
• Cones
– Found mainly in fovea centralis
– Can distinguish among colors
– Few cone cells converge on single
ganglion cell
• Low light sensitivity (need more
light to see with cones)
• High acuity (image is sharper)
 Photoreceptor Structure
• Each photoreceptor has
two segments
– Inner segment
• metabolic machinery
• synaptic endings
– Outer segment Fig 7.26
• contains layers of internal
membranes containing
photopigments
 Photopigments
• Rhodopsin (rod cell
photopigment)
– Consists of retinal (vitamin A
derivative) and opsin (protein)
– Retinal undergoes a photchemical
change when struck by light
• 11-cis-retinal converted to trans-
retinal
• Induces change in membrane
potential of rod
• Ultimately leads to generation of
action potentials in ganglion cells
• Cone cell photopigment
– Each cone has one of three different
opsins
– Respond to different wavelengths of
light
• Blue (S), Green (M), or Red (L)
– Enables color discrimination