SENSE ORGANS

By Balgis MD MSc

Introduction
Survival of any organism depends on the ability to respond to changes in the external and internal environments. These responses are based on information supplied to the central nervous system by the sensory component of the peripheral nervous system.

 Receptors is either a sensory nerve ending or a cell associated with a sensory nerve ending that specialized to detect change in stimulus in the environment and converts or translates it into an action potential (electrochemical energy ) that can conduction to the CNS Receptor or generator, potentials because they serve to generate action potentials in response to the sensory stimulation.

Generator (Receptor) Potential

Specificity/ law of Specific Nerve Energies

This is the property by which one sensation is distinguished from another In general, a given sensory neuron carries only one modality ( temperature, hearing,vision) For example a neuron conveying touch to somatosensory cortex is not capable of also carrying information about temperature. This is because receptors are specialized, having a low threshold to a specific stimulus and a high threshold to all other stimuli.

Specificity/ law of Specific Nerve Energies

The receptors in each of the sense organs are adapted to respond to one particular form of energy at much lower threshold than other receptor responds to this form of energy. The particular form of energy to which a receptor is most sensitive is called its adequate stimulus.

Adaptation of Sensory receptors

A characteristic of many sensations is "adaptation", or a change in sensitivity (usually a decrease) to a long-lasting stimulus. Some receptor respond with a burst of activity when a stimulus is first applied, but then quickly decrease their firing rate adapt to the stimulus- if the stimulus is maintained. Receptor with this pattern are called phasic receptors ( fast-adapting ) so perception decreases even though the stimulus is still there

 Some receptors adapt more slowly, "slowadapting receptors" Receptors that produce a relatively constant rate of firing as long as the stimulus is maintained are known as tonic receptors The opposite of adaptation is an "afterimage", where the perception or sensation persists after the stimulus is gone (like when you get "hit" with a flashbulb in a dark room, or when you lay in your bed after being on rollercoasters all day and feel as though you're still moving). Only about 1% of the sensory information taken in by afferent fibers actually reaches the cerebral cortex and conscious awareness.

Components of Sensation
Four component must occur for a sensation To arise 1. Stimulation : A stimulus is any change in the environment that can alter the energy state of a cell sufficiently to depolarize the cell membrane and initiate a local potential. 2. Transduction : A sensory receptor must pick up the stimulus and transduce it to a nerve impulse (convert it from one form, like light, to another energy form, the electrical nerve impulse) by way of whats called a generator potential)

Components of Sensation
3. Conduction: The impulse must be conducted along a neural pathway from the receptor to the brain. 4. Translation : A region of the brain or spinal cord must translate the impulse into a sensation.

Level of sensation
Sensation is a conscious or unconscious awareness of external and internal stimuli. Perception is the interpretation of conscious sensations. The nature of sensation vary with the level of the CNS in which the sensation is translated. Sensory pathways that end in the spinal cord can generate reflex reaction

Level of sensation
If the pathway goes to brainstem complex subconscious motor reactions can be the result ( like medula changing heart rate or breathing rate) If the path leads to the thalamus, crude identification of the type of sensations occurs (pain ,touch, hearing) If the path reaches the cerebral cortex do we get precise identification and localization (perception) of the sensory experience (sight, smell, pain)

THE SENSES
We learn in the elementary school that there are 5 senses but the inadequate of this dictum if apparent if we list the major sensory modalities and their receptors in humans. The list table 1-1 includes at least 11 conscious senses. There are , in addition a large number of sensory receptors which relay information that does not reach consciousness

Table 1-1 Principal sensory modalities

Sensory Modality Receptor Sense Organ

1.Vision 2.Hearing 3.Smell

4.Taste 5.Rotational Acceleration

Rods and cones Hair cells Olfactory neurons Taste receptors cells Hair cell

Eye Ear (organcorti) Olfactory mucous membrane Taste bud

Ear ( semicircular canals

6. Linear accel 7. Touchpressure 8. Warmth 9. Cold 10. Pain

Hair cells Nerve endings Nerve endings Nerve endings Naked nerve endings Nerve endings

Ear (utricle&sac) Various2 Various2 Various2

11. Joint position Various2 And movement Nerve endings Muscle 12. Muscle Nerve endings spindle length Golgi tendon 13. Muscle organ tension

Classifications of sensory receptor

General sensory or somatosensory receptor is concerned with sensation of touch, pressure, temperature, pain, and muscle sense. The receptor for taste, smell, sight, hearing, and equilibrium are in complex sensory organs, termed special sense organs.

Classification of Receptors by complexity

Simple receptor are associated with general senses ( like pain, temperature, touch, proprioception ) Complex receptor are associated with the special senses (like vision,hearing), and have complex receptors in specific localized organs of the body (eye, ear)

Classification of receptors by Location

Exteroceptors in the skin and special sense organs provide information about the external environment( touch,smell, vision ) Interoceptors ( visceroceptors) are in vessels or viscera and provide info about the internal environment such as the monitoring of the composition of body fluids ( not at conscious level, except perhaps pain) Proprioceptors are in muscles, tendons, joints, and inner ear and provide information body position and movement.

Classification of receptors by type of stimulus detected

Mechanoreceptors detect mechanical stimuli like pressure, sound wave. Thermoreceptors detect temperature change Nosireceptors detect damage to tissue as pain Photoreceptors detect photons of light. Chemoreceptors detect chemical by taste, smell or within body fluid (like co2 content of the blood)

Pain Sensations
Pain receptors are especially common in superficial parts of skin, in joint capsules, in periosteum, and around walls of blood vessels. Nociceptors consist of free nerve endings located in nearly every body tissue; they exhibit slight adaptation (if at all); excessive stimulation of any receptor type can elicit pain (like a tremendously loud noise, bright light, etc.).

There are three major categories of nocicpetors: 1. sensitive to extremes in temperature 2. sensitive to mechanical damage 3. and sensitive to chemicals (like the chemicals released by damaged tissues). Type A (myelinated) fibers carry "fast pain" from an acute injury (injection, cut), and this travels quickly to the cerebral cortex. Type C fibers (unmyelinated) carry "slow pain" like chronic pain

 impulses that travel to the reticular formation and the thalamus. This is more of an ache or dull pain that is not really localized. Pain may be classified based on speed of onset, quality of sensation, and duration. "Acute" pain is fast, sharp, and not felt in deeper tissues of the body. "Chronic" pain is slow, gradually increases in intensity, and occurs both in the skin and deeper tissues or in internal organs.

Two kinds of pain are recognized in the parietal lobe of the cerebral cortex Somatic pain Visceral pain

Somatic pain
Originates in the skin, body wall or appendages (muscles, joints, tendons). Localization is usually precise, impulse is sent along general somatic afferent fibers, up ascending tracts, through thalamus, to cerebral cortex

Visceral pain
Originates in viscera (internal organs of the ventral body cavity, like lungs, GI tract, etc.)

More difficult to localize, carried to ascending tracts by general visceral afferent fibers, may be "referred" to a somatic region that enters the same level of the spinal cord.

 Pain impulses may often be inhibited by: pain-reducing drugs, surgery may be required to control severe pain (rhizotomy - cutting a sensory root).

Thermal Sensation
Free nerve endings (thermoreceptors) separate thermoreceptors respond to hot and cold stimuli, but there are no known structural differences between the two types. They are mainly in the dermis, but also in skeletal muscle, the liver, and hypothalamus. Cold outnumber warm receptors by about three or four times.

Mechanoreceptors
These are sensitive to stimuli that distort their cell membranes. Those membranes contain mechanically-gated ion channels that open or close in response to stretching, twisting, compression, etc. There are three basic types: Tactile, baroreceptors, proprioceptors.

Tactile
a. Fine touch and pressure: Detailed information , very sensitive, small receptive fields. b. Crude touch and pressure: Poor localization, not as sensitive or discriminatory, have large receptive fields. (Pressure sensations result from stimulation of tactile receptors in deeper tissues and are longer lasting; pressure is a sustained sensation that is felt over a larger area than touch. Vibration sensations result from rapidly repetitive sensory signals from tactile receptors.)

 Various types of receptors are found in the skin, some superficial in the epidermis (for fine touch) and some deeper in the dermis (for deeper pressure). These include: Free nerve endings, root hair plexuses (generate an action potential when a hair is disturbed), Merkel's discs, Meissner's corpuscles, Pacinian corpuscles, Ruffini corpuscles (the discs and corpuscles are encapsulated within connective tissues).

 Receptors for these tactile sensations are not only located in the skin, but also in mucous membranes, and at the ends (mouth and anus) of the digestive tract. Distribution of receptors varies by sensitivity of body part. Nerve impulses generated by cutaneous receptors pass along somatic afferent neurons in spinal and cranial nerves, through the thalamus (sensory relay), and to the somatosensory area of the parietal lobe of the cortex (postcentral gyrus).

Baroreceptors
These are types of mechanoreceptors of the general senses that monitor changes in pressure. These are free nerve endings that branch within elastic tissues of distensible organs, like urinary bladder or blood vessel walls. Many of these are involved in reflex activities, such as in the urinary system, respiratory system (to dilate airways) and helping to control blood pressure. The input from these may travel to areas of the brainstem (like the medulla) where many visceral reflexes are integrated.

Chemoreceptor
These respond to water-soluble and lipid-soluble substances dissolved in body fluids. These do not send information to the primary sensory cortex ( postcentral gyrus), so we are not consciously aware of these types of chemopreception. These have to do with the respiratory, urinary, and cardiovascular systems

Proprioceptors
Proprioceptors are located in the muscles, tendons, joints, and the vestibular part of ear. These convey nerve impulse related to muscle tone, movement of body parts, and body position.The information is needed for awareness of the position of body parts with respect to one another and of the movement of body parts.