Anatomy

Sensation

search

Sensation, Somatic Sensation, Perception, Sensory Nerve Ending, Sensory Receptor, Chemoreceptor, Mechanoreceptor, Thermoreceptor, Proprioceptor, Pressoreceptor, Encapsulated Nerve Ending, Free Nerve Ending, Pacinian Corpuscle, Meisner's Corpuscle, Merkel Cell

  • See Also
  1. Neuron
  2. Sensory Exam
  3. Two Point Discrimination
  4. Agnosia
  5. Pain Sensation
  • Physiology
  • Sensory stimuli
  1. Mechanical stimulation
    1. Touch and Pressure
    2. Vibration
    3. Baroreceptors (e.g. aortic and carotid bodies)
    4. Sound receptors (e.g. Cochlea) allowing for Hearing
    5. Movement against gravity (Vestibular Labyrinths) allowing for balance
  2. Thermal stimulation
    1. Hot and cold Sensation
  3. Pain stimulation (Nociceptors)
    1. Nociceptors are triggered by painful stimuli (chemical, thermal or mechanical)
  4. Chemical stimulation
    1. Taste Bud
    2. Olfactory receptors allowing for smell
    3. pH Receptors (central Chemoreceptors on ventrolateral Medulla in Brainstem)
    4. Osmolality receptors (supraoptic nuclei Hypothalamus)
  5. Electromagnetic stimulation
    1. Retinal Photoreceptors (rods, cones) allowing for Vision
  • Physiology
  • Somatic Sensory Nerve Endings
  1. Free Nerve Endings
    1. Includes pain (Nociceptors) and Temperature (Thermoreceptors)
    2. Also includes touch (Merkel disks) and Hair Root tactile receptors
    3. Unmyelinated fibers spread throughout Epidermis and Dermis
  2. Encapsulated Receptors
    1. Specialized functioning receptors for detection of all other Sensations except pain and Temperature
    2. Includes light touch (Meissner's corpuscle), deep pressure and vibration (Pacinian Corpuscle)
    3. Also includes Muscle stretch (Muscle Spindle receptors) and Muscle tendon tension (Golgi Tendon Organs)
  • References
  1. Goldberg (2014) Clinical Physiology p. 90-2
  2. Guyton and Hall (2006) Medical Physiology, p. 572-84