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Somatosensory Flashcards

(51 cards)

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1
Q

What is Exteroception?

A

sensitivity to stimuli outside of the body

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2
Q

what is mechanoreception?

A

sensitivity to touch, pressure on skin, dents in the membrane of neuron(which causes action potentials)

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3
Q

what is thermoreception?

A

sensitivity and perception of temperature and temperature changes experienced by externally by thebody

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4
Q

what is nociception?

A

the process that triggers the sensation of pain(the neural signals)

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5
Q

what is enteroception?

A

sense/perception of things happening internally

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6
Q

what does epicritic refer to?

A

touch/vibration

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7
Q

what does protopathic refer to?

A

activating nociceptors/pain and thermo changes

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8
Q

what is proprioception?

A

knowing where one’s body is in space without sensory input

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9
Q

what are mechanoreceptors?

A

Mechanoreceptors are a type of somatosensory receptors which relay extracellular stimulus to intracellular signal transduction through mechanically gated ion channels.

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10
Q

What are the types of mechanoreceptors?

A

1)Merkel’s Disk
2)Meissner’s Corpuscle
3)Pacinian Corpuscle
4)Ruffini’s ending

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11
Q

Where is the Merkel’s Disk?

A

right under the epidermis(superficial)

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12
Q

Where is the Meissner corpuscle located?

A

found in the ridges of glabrous skin(superficial)

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13
Q

where is the pacinian corpuscle located?

A

deep in the dermis

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14
Q

how do mechanoreceptors differ?

A

Small vs large receptive fields
- small rf are closer to the surface of the skin
- large rf are found deeper in the skin
How quickly they adapt
- ie. after time a receptor will stop firing even though the stimulus is still occuring

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15
Q

what is rapid adaptation?

A
  • when Action potentials are fired only when the stimulus is first placed and when the stimulus is first removed -> it responds to changes in pressure rather than absolute pressure
  • allows for detection of rapidly-changing/high frequency stimuli like vibration and texture detection
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16
Q

What type of mechanoreceptor has a small receptive field and rapid adaptation?

A

The Meissner’s Corpuscle

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17
Q

What type of mechanoreceptor has a small receptive field and slow adaptation?

A

The Merkel’s disk

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18
Q

What type of mechanoreceptor has a large receptive field and rapid adaptation?

A

The Pacinian Corpuscle

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19
Q

What type of mechanoreceptor has a large receptive field and slow adaptation?

A

The Ruffini’s ending

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20
Q

what do corpuscles do?

A

mediate different ranges of frequencies:
- Pacinian responds best to 200-300 Hz
- Meissner responds best to 50 Hz

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21
Q

Are mechanoreceptors of the skin have unmyelinated or myelinated axon terminals?

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A

they have unmyelinated axon terminals that have membranes that have mechanoreceptive ion channels that convert mechanical force into a change in ionic current

22
Q

When mechanical stimuli triggers the release of second messengers like DAG or IP3, what is this called?

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A

Internal Modulation

23
Q

What is two point discrimination?

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A

a measure of the spatial resolution that varies across the body:
how far apart do two points have to be before you can identify them as two separate things?
can measure spatial acuity

24
Q

What two things affect spatial acuity?

Study These Flashcards
A
  • the density of touch receptors
  • type of touch receptors-> small receptive fields have an increase in acuity
25
Explain cortical magnification
- Some areas of the body have more cortical space then others and than you'd expect like lips and hands - the relative size of the cortex devoted to these areas correlate to the density of receptors in that area: higher receptor density areas-> higher spacial acuity
26
Primary Afferent Axons, what are they and what do they do ?
1)Bring information from sensory receptors into the CNS(spinal cord) 2) Enter the spinal cord through dorsal root - cell bodies of these sensory axons are in the dorsal root ganglia Afferent = Arriving
27
What group does A-alpha fiber axons coordinate with? C fiber axons?
Group III Group IV
28
What type of sensory input do the sensory receptors from the A-alpha fiver axons and and C fiber axons take?
A-alpha fiber axons have pain and temperature sensory receptors c fiber axons have temperature, pain an ditch sensory receptors
29
What are the 4 groups that the 30 spinal nerves are divided into?
Cervical: C1-C8(arms) Thoracic: T1-T12(torso) Lumbar: L1-L5(legs) Sacral: S1-S5
30
What is dermatone?
The area of skin innervated by right and left dorsal roots of a single spinal segment neighboring dermatones overlap
31
What does DCML stand for and what type of pathway is it?
Dorsal column-medial lemniscus Epicritic
32
What is the DCML pathway?
1) large sensory neurons enters the ipsilateral dorsal column of spinal cord 2) the axons have first synapse in the dorsal column nuclei at the junction of spinal cord and medulla 3) The axons decussate 4) the axons of the dorsal column nucleus ascend within the contralateral medial lemniscus through the medulla 5)the axons synapse on the ventral posterior lateral nucleus of the thalamus 6) the thalamus projects to primary somatosensory cortex S1
33
What is the trigeminal touch pathway?
Somatic sensation for the face and scalp - decussates(touching right cheek is processed by left cortex) - terminates in the VP nucleus of the thalamus
34
What area is the primary somatosensory cortex (S1)?
Area 3b
35
Where does the thalamic input to S1 terminate primarily?
Layer IV
36
How are S1 neurons stacked? What is it called?
They are stacked vertically in groups of similar input/responses and its called Cortical Columns
37
What area do areas 1 and 2 receive input from?
They receive input from area 3b.
38
What type of information does area 3b send to area 1?To area 2?
Texture information Size and shape
39
What does it mean when cortical maps are not fixed?
There is cortical plasticity
40
If one digit were amputated or nerve was block or not used as much as surrounding digits what will happen to that digits cortical area?
The neighboring cortical area will grow into this region and that digit will lose its cortical area
41
What happens when you overstimulate the cortical area of one input?
The cortical area dedicated to this input will grow into surrounding areas - this may be why some people experience phantom limbs, the cortical area surround the missing limb that has grown into the cortical area that was once for the missing limb will cause sensation in the area of the missing limb when the remaining limbs are stimulated, the growth has cause lateral connections
42
Areas 5 and 7 are part of what cortex?
The Posterior Parietal Cortex (PPC), it's posterior to S1
43
What is Agnosia?
Damage to the PPC can cause an inability to recognize objects even though sensory systems are intact
44
What is Neglect syndrome?
This happens contralaterally(hemi-neglect) ec. a patient with right parietal cortex lesion will neglect everything on the left side of their world including their own body
45
What are nociceptors?
They are free branching unmyelinated nerve endings that signal body tissue is being damaged or is at risk of being damaged
46
Can pain happen without nociception?
Yes, and nociception can happen without pain.
47
What is Hyperalgesia?
the elevation of pain sensitivity: there are two types 1) primary 2) secondary
48
What is Analgesia?
the lack pf pain; people with this have much shorter lives because they don't know when they are having tissue damage
49
What is referred pain?
the sensation of pain in a certain place despite there being no tissue damage
50
Why does referred pain happen?
- Axons carrying pain information from visceral organs enter the spinal cord at the same location as the axons from the periphery - sometimes crossing over of signals occur-> pain is 'referred' to the outside of your body ex. someone having a heart attack may feel pain in their left arm
51
What are the different types of nociceptors?
1) Mechanical -> pressure on the surface of the body that could cause tissue damage 2) Thermal-> dangerous temperatures 3) Chemical-> sense specific chemicals that signal tissue damage(freeing hydrogen ions from lactic acid when working out) 4) Polymodal-> more than one of the above can affect this nociceptor

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