Ascending Pathways Flashcards
(46 cards)
Hair follicle receptors
touch
merkel endings
pressure and low frequency vibrations
meissners corpuscles
light touch
Pacinian Corpuscles
Vibration and JPS
Ruffini Endings
skin stretch, pressure and JPS
Nociceptors
Pain
Muscle spindles
determine muscle length and proprioception
Golgi tendon organs
JPS
Meissner’s corpuscles receptive fields
these have limited receptive fields when they are in the tips of the fingers than when they are on the palms of the hands
Pacinian receptive fields
however have generally large receptive fields each of which has a smaller more sensitive area within it
What is the contents of a receptive field
in the centre of a receptive field dendrites are dense and then diffuse as they reach the periphery (this results in faster firing at the centre as they activate more dendrites)
the concept of lateral inhibition
relies on reciprocal inhibition between two adjacent neurons where the extent of inhibition from each one is linked to the stimulus point on the neuronal receptive field overlap
different axon types effect what
the speed of transmission of the information to the CNS
• Some modalities therefore are slower at being transmitted to the brain than others
Fasciculus gracilis carries information from
the lower body extremities
Fasciculus cuneatus carries information from
the upper body extremities
Dorsal and ventral spinocerebellar tracts carry
proprioceptive information from muscle spindles (Dorsal) & Golgi organs (ventral)
Spinothalamic tracts
pain and temperature transmission etc.
where does en route sensory information pass through on its way to the cortex
thought the thalamus
EXCEPT OLFACTORY
what is the thalamus
this acts as a relay station between the periphery and the cortex
- it has reciprocal connection to all the cortical regions and can read information, receive feedback and modulate cortical activity
thalamic peduncles
they are thalamic connection that form between the thalamus and the cortex
What are the three principle ascending tract systems of the spinal cord
- Dorsal column-medial lemniscus pathways
- Spinothalamic pathways
- Spinocerebellar pathways
Dorsal column - medial lemniscal pathway
mechanical stimuli
- Conscious proprioception,
- Discriminative touch,
- Vibration and
- Pressure
Dorsal column - medial lemniscal pathway cortical functions
1.
To determine the shape of an object (without sight)
Proprioception from the finger joints and fine discriminating touch provides a very accurate model of any object that is handled
Dorsal column - medial lemniscal pathway cortical functions
2.
- To determine the texture of an object (without sight)
Texture is determined by vibration and slip receptors as well as fine discriminating touch. Note pleasure can be associated with this pathway