Anatomy Science Olympiad

Taste, Smell and Skin

Receptors
NOV 4TH, 2016
What are Senses?

▶ Senses are the ability to perceive stimuli

❑Senses are how the brain gets information about the
environment and body
▶ Sensation – The arriving information from these senses
▶ Perception – Conscious awareness of a sensation
Classification of Senses
 Pathways of Sensation

·        Receptors on the skin

·        Sensory neurons carry the message
·        Sensory tracts involve the white matter in CNS
·        Sensory area (cerebral cortex feels and interprets sensation)
Interpreting Sensory Information

Arriving stimulus, takes many forms and are sensed by special

organs:
▶ Physical force (such as pressure) Skin Receptors
▶ Dissolved chemicals Taste and Smell
▶ Sound Hearing
▶ Light Vision
Types of Sensory Receptors

There are 5 types of sensory receptors based on the type of stimuli they detect:
▶ Mechanoreceptors - pressure receptors, stretch receptors, and specialized
mechanoreceptors involved in movement and balance.
▶ Thermoreceptors - skin and viscera, respond to both external and internal
temperature
▶ Pain receptors - stimulated by lack of O2, chemicals released from damaged
cells and inflammatory cells
▶ Chemoreceptors - detect changes in levels of O2, CO2, and H+ ions (pH) as well
as chemicals that stimulate taste and smell receptors
▶ Photoreceptors - stimulated by light
Skin Receptors

▶ Meissner’s Corpuscles – located in the dermis; responsible for light touch

▶ Merkel Discs – located in the epidermis; responsible for light touch
▶ Pacinian Corpuscles – located in the dermis; sense deep pressure and vibrations
▶ Pain Receptors – the most numerous skin receptors; register pain
▶ Cold Receptors – located in the dermis; perceive cold sensations when skin surface drops
below 95 ° F and stop receiving stimuli when skin surface drops below 41 ° F; more numerous
than hot receptors
▶ Hot Receptors – located in the dermis; perceive hot sensations when skin surface rises above
86 ° F and are no longer stimulated when the skin surface surpasses113 ° F
Somatic Sense- Touch Receptors
Video

Our sense of
temperature,
touch and pain
Special Senses

There are 5 types of special senses. Receptors are local to a body part and very
specialized:
▶ Smell, Taste, Sight, Hearing and Balance
▶ Smell and Taste are closely related both where they are located and how they work
▶ The sense of smell is called Olfaction
▶ These sense of taste is called Gustation
▶ The receptors of smell are olfactory cells and the receptors for taste are taste buds.
They both detect chemicals, thus they are chemoreceptors.
 How do we smell things?

▶ Odorants (airborne molecules) enter the nasal cavity

▶ Olfactory neurons (bipolar neurons) are in the olfactory
epithelium which line the nasal cavity
▶ The neurons have long dendrites which have small hair
like projections called cilia. These lay on the inside of
your nasal cavity in a layer of mucous
▶ The mucous layer helps keep the inside of the nose
moist and helps dissolve the airborne molecules are
removes molecules from the nasal epithelium
(outermost layer of skin in your nose).
 How do we smell things?

▶ The cilia pick up the odorants and the signal passes up

the dendrite, up the olfactory neuron and axon and into
the olfactory bulb
▶ It then passes to interneurons and the olfactory tract
which are a bundle of nerves which take it to the brain
▶ The centers for smell perception in the brain are the
amygdala, thalamus and neocortex
Video

How do we
smell things?
 Fun Smelly Facts!

▶ Olfactory Cells – located in the superior region of the nasal cavity.  Don’t really know how many different smells we can
detect.
▶ Cells are structurally alike but sensitive to different chemicals.
▶ Patterns of stimulation (which combinations of cells are stimulated) determine the characteristics of an odor.
▶ At least 50 different primary smells (we don’t even have the words in the English language to describe them all) but
probably somewhere between 2000 and 4000 different chemicals detected.
▶ And if that isn’t enough, the sense of smell and taste interact.  No sense of smell, no taste discrimination.  (Ever have a
cold and notice food doesn’t taste as good?)
▶ Also – really closely tied in to the limbic system (the emotional brain).  You really remember smells – have you ever
experienced being away from the home you grew up in for some period of time and noticed that when you return for a
visit the smells of that house can bring the memory of your entire childhood back instantly? 
Group Activity

Let’s see how

much we know
about
olfaction! ▶ http://www.wiley.com/college/apcentral/anatomyd
rill/t16/at1602b_1.htm
 Taste

▶ Taste sensation work with smell sensation or they enhance each other. 
▶ Taste buds detect chemicals, thus they are chemoreceptors.
▶ The receptors for taste are located in specialized organs called taste buds which are numerous on the surface of
the epithelium covering the tongue in humans and mammals.
▶ Taste Buds – located in papillae on the upper surface of the tongue and also on the roof of the oral cavity,
the pharynx and larynx.
 Taste

▶ There are three kinds of

papillae: vallate (back of
tongue), fungiform (middle)
and filiform (front or apex of tongue).
❑ Vallate: largest but least abundant,
and “V-shaped”.
❑ Fungiform: knob-like appearance;
present on tip and  sides of tongue
❑ Filiform: short, threadlike; most
numerous 
 What can you taste?
▶ Bitter –Keeps you from swallowing potentially toxic
stuff. Located at the back of the tongue
▶ Sour – this is a good taste, the taste of citrus fruits,
which contain vitamin C.  Located at the sides of the
tongue.
▶ Salty – another good taste because craving salt
provides with sodium and other minerals.  Specific
receptors located along the side of the tongue.
▶ Sweet – Again, another good taste, because glucose
the main fuel of the body.  Your brain really really
likes to run on glucose.  Receptors are located on the
tip of the tongue.
▶ Umami - basically a savory taste like monosodium
glutamate receptor.  Tastes kind of like beef or chicken
broth, or sometimes described as steak. 
Group Activity

Let’s see how

much we know
about
gustation! ▶ http://www.wiley.com/college/apcentral/anatomyd
rill/t16/at1650_1.htm
 How do we taste things?

▶ Taste buds (contain receptor cells)

are chemoreceptors stimulated by chemicals
present in foods we eat.
▶ Taste buds are located on papillae which are
bumps on the tongue.
▶ A taste bud contains different cells which
form a capsule. Some are supporting cells
and others are taste cells.
▶ Taste cells have hair like structures called
taste hairs which also contain the taste
pores.
▶ Chemicals dissolve in the saliva and enter
the taste pores of the taste buds.
▶ Chemicals dissolved bind to the taste hairs
and stimulate the taste buds.
▶ The cells in turn stimulate the dendrites of
the sensory nerves.
How do we taste things?

▶ Three facial nerves carry taste sensations from

different parts of the tongue
❑ Facial Nerve from the 1st 2/3 of the tongue
❑ Glossopharyngeal Nerve from the last 1/3 of the
tongue
❑ Vagus nerve from the root of the tongue
▶ These sensations then go to the brainstem,
thalamus and taste area of the cortex.
Video

Tastebuds on
the Tongue
Video

Taste and
Smell