A mechanoreceptor, also called mechanoceptor, is a sensory receptor that responds to mechanical pressure or distortion. Mechanoreceptors are located on sensory neurons that convert mechanical pressure into electrical signals that, in animals, are sent to the central nervous system.
Cutaneous mechanoreceptors respond to mechanical stimuli that result from physical interaction, including pressure and vibration. They are located in the skin, like other cutaneous receptors. They are all innervated by Aβ fibers, except the mechanorecepting free nerve endings, which are innervated by Aδ fibers. Cutaneous mechanoreceptors can be categorized by what kind of sensation they perceive, by the rate of adaptation, and by morphology. Furthermore, each has a different receptive field.[ citation needed ]
Cutaneous mechanoreceptors can also be separated into categories based on their rates of adaptation. When a mechanoreceptor receives a stimulus, it begins to fire impulses or action potentials at an elevated frequency (the stronger the stimulus, the higher the frequency). The cell, however, will soon "adapt" to a constant or static stimulus, and the pulses will subside to a normal rate. Receptors that adapt quickly (i.e., quickly return to a normal pulse rate) are referred to as "phasic". Those receptors that are slow to return to their normal firing rate are called tonic. Phasic mechanoreceptors are useful in sensing such things as texture or vibrations, whereas tonic receptors are useful for temperature and proprioception among others.[ citation needed ]
Cutaneous mechanoreceptors with small, accurate receptive fields are found in areas needing accurate taction (e.g. the fingertips). In the fingertips and lips, innervation density of slowly adapting type I and rapidly adapting type I mechanoreceptors are greatly increased. These two types of mechanoreceptors have small discrete receptive fields and are thought to underlie most low-threshold use of the fingers in assessing texture, surface slip, and flutter. Mechanoreceptors found in areas of the body with less tactile acuity tend to have larger receptive fields.[ citation needed ]
Lamellar corpuscles, or Pacinian corpuscles or Vater-Pacini corpuscle, are deformation or pressure receptors located in the skin and also in various internal organs. [8] Each is connected to a sensory neuron. Because of its relatively large size, a single lamellar corpuscle can be isolated and its properties studied. Mechanical pressure of varying strength and frequency can be applied to the corpuscle by stylus, and the resulting electrical activity detected by electrodes attached to the preparation.[ citation needed ]
Deforming the corpuscle creates a generator potential in the sensory neuron arising within it. This is a graded response: the greater the deformation, the greater the generator potential. If the generator potential reaches threshold, a volley of action potentials (nerve impulses) are triggered at the first node of Ranvier of the sensory neuron.[ citation needed ]
Once threshold is reached, the magnitude of the stimulus is encoded in the frequency of impulses generated in the neuron. So the more massive or rapid the deformation of a single corpuscle, the higher the frequency of nerve impulses generated in its neuron.[ citation needed ]
The optimal sensitivity of a lamellar corpuscle is 250 Hz, the frequency range generated upon finger tips by textures made of features smaller than 200 micrometres. [9]
There are four types of mechanoreceptors embedded in ligaments. As all these types of mechanoreceptors are myelinated, they can rapidly transmit sensory information regarding joint positions to the central nervous system. [10]
Type II and Type III mechanoreceptors in particular are believed to be linked to one's sense of proprioception.
Other mechanoreceptors than cutaneous ones include the hair cells, which are sensory receptors in the vestibular system of the inner ear, where they contribute to the auditory system and equilibrioception. Baroreceptors are a type of mechanoreceptor sensory neuron that is excited by stretch of the blood vessel. There are also juxtacapillary (J) receptors, which respond to events such as pulmonary edema, pulmonary emboli, pneumonia, and barotrauma.[ citation needed ]
The knee jerk is the popularly known stretch reflex (involuntary kick of the lower leg) induced by tapping the knee with a rubber-headed hammer. The hammer strikes a tendon that inserts an extensor muscle in the front of the thigh into the lower leg. Tapping the tendon stretches the thigh muscle, which activates stretch receptors within the muscle called muscle spindles. Each muscle spindle consists of sensory nerve endings wrapped around special muscle fibers called intrafusal muscle fibers. Stretching an intrafusal fiber initiates a volley of impulses in the sensory neuron (a I-a neuron) attached to it. The impulses travel along the sensory axon to the spinal cord where they form several kinds of synapses:[ citation needed ]
In somatosensory transduction, the afferent neurons transmit messages through synapses in the dorsal column nuclei, where second-order neurons send the signal to the thalamus and synapse with third-order neurons in the ventrobasal complex. The third-order neurons then send the signal to the somatosensory cortex.[ citation needed ]
More recent work has expanded the role of the cutaneous mechanoreceptors for feedback in fine motor control. [12] Single action potentials from Meissner's corpuscle, Pacinian corpuscle and Ruffini ending afferents are directly linked to muscle activation, whereas Merkel cell-neurite complex activation does not trigger muscle activity. [13]
Insect and arthropod mechanoreceptors include: [14]
Mechanoreceptors are also present in plant cells where they play an important role in normal growth, development and the sensing of their environment. [20] Mechanoreceptors aid the Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula Ellis) in capturing large [21] prey. [22]
Mechanoreceptor proteins are ion channels whose ion flow is induced by touch. Early research showed that touch transduction in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans was found to require a two transmembrane, amiloride-sensitive ion channel protein related to epithelial sodium channels (ENaCs). [23] This protein, called MEC-4, forms a heteromeric Na+-selective channel together with MEC-10. Related genes in mammals are expressed in sensory neurons and were shown to be gated by low pH. The first of such receptor was ASIC1a, named so because it is an acid sensing ion channel (ASIC). [24]
In neuroanatomy, the trigeminal nerve (lit. triplet nerve), also known as the fifth cranial nerve, cranial nerve V, or simply CN V, is a cranial nerve responsible for sensation in the face and motor functions such as biting and chewing; it is the most complex of the cranial nerves. Its name (trigeminal, from Latin tri- 'three' and -geminus 'twin') derives from each of the two nerves (one on each side of the pons) having three major branches: the ophthalmic nerve (V1), the maxillary nerve (V2), and the mandibular nerve (V3). The ophthalmic and maxillary nerves are purely sensory, whereas the mandibular nerve supplies motor as well as sensory (or "cutaneous") functions. Adding to the complexity of this nerve is that autonomic nerve fibers as well as special sensory fibers (taste) are contained within it.
The sensory nervous system is a part of the nervous system responsible for processing sensory information. A sensory system consists of sensory neurons, neural pathways, and parts of the brain involved in sensory perception and interoception. Commonly recognized sensory systems are those for vision, hearing, touch, taste, smell, balance and visceral sensation. Sense organs are transducers that convert data from the outer physical world to the realm of the mind where people interpret the information, creating their perception of the world around them.
In physiology, a stimulus is a change in a living thing's internal or external environment. This change can be detected by an organism or organ using sensitivity, and leads to a physiological reaction. Sensory receptors can receive stimuli from outside the body, as in touch receptors found in the skin or light receptors in the eye, as well as from inside the body, as in chemoreceptors and mechanoreceptors. When a stimulus is detected by a sensory receptor, it can elicit a reflex via stimulus transduction. An internal stimulus is often the first component of a homeostatic control system. External stimuli are capable of producing systemic responses throughout the body, as in the fight-or-flight response. In order for a stimulus to be detected with high probability, its level of strength must exceed the absolute threshold; if a signal does reach threshold, the information is transmitted to the central nervous system (CNS), where it is integrated and a decision on how to react is made. Although stimuli commonly cause the body to respond, it is the CNS that finally determines whether a signal causes a reaction or not.
A free nerve ending (FNE) or bare nerve ending, is an unspecialized, afferent nerve fiber sending its signal to a sensory neuron. Afferent in this case means bringing information from the body's periphery toward the brain. They function as cutaneous nociceptors and are essentially used by vertebrates to detect noxious stimuli that often result in pain.
Stimulus modality, also called sensory modality, is one aspect of a stimulus or what is perceived after a stimulus. For example, the temperature modality is registered after heat or cold stimulate a receptor. Some sensory modalities include: light, sound, temperature, taste, pressure, and smell. The type and location of the sensory receptor activated by the stimulus plays the primary role in coding the sensation. All sensory modalities work together to heighten stimuli sensation when necessary.
A cutaneous receptor is a sensory receptor found in the skin that provides information about temperature, touch, spatial orientation,pressure, and metabolic circumstances. The main four types of cutaneous receptors are tactile corpuscles, bulbous corpuscles, Pacinian corpuscles, and Merkel nerve endings, although the latter do not qualify as sensory corpuscles in the narrow sense.
Tactile corpuscles or Meissner's corpuscles are a type of mechanoreceptor discovered by anatomist Georg Meissner (1829–1905) and Rudolf Wagner. This corpuscle is a type of nerve ending in the skin that is responsible for sensitivity to pressure. In particular, they have their highest sensitivity when sensing vibrations between 10 and 50 hertz. They are rapidly adaptive receptors. They are most concentrated in thick hairless skin, especially at the finger pads.
Sensory neurons, also known as afferent neurons, are neurons in the nervous system, that convert a specific type of stimulus, via their receptors, into action potentials or graded receptor potentials. This process is called sensory transduction. The cell bodies of the sensory neurons are located in the dorsal root ganglia of the spinal cord.
The caridoid escape reaction, also known as lobstering or tail-flipping, is an innate escape behavior in marine and freshwater eucarid crustaceans such as lobsters, krill, shrimp and crayfish.
The Pacinian corpuscle is a low-threshold mechanoreceptor responsive to vibration or pressure, found in the skin and other internal organs. In the skin it is one of the four main types of cutaneous receptors.
Merkel nerve endings are mechanoreceptors situated in the basal epidermis as well as around the apical ends or some hair follicles. They are slowly adapting. They have small receptive fields measuring some milimeters in diameter. Most are associated with fast-conducting large myelinated axons. A single afferent nerve fibre branches to innervate up to 90 such endings. Merkel nerve endings respond to light touch. They respond to sustained pressure, and are sensitive to edges of objects. Their exact functions remain controversial.
The tactile corpuscles of Grandry or Grandry corpuscles are mechanoreceptors found in the beak skin and oral mucosa of aquatic birds including waterfowl. They were first described in 1869 in the bill skin of ducks and geese. Their general structure includes the flattened endings of an afferent nerve fiber sandwiched between two or more somewhat flattened sensory cells called Grandry cells, all surrounded by a layer of satellite cells and a partial capsule of collagen protein. Electrophysiological studies have shown that Grandry corpuscles function as rapidly adapting velocity detectors. In birds, Grandry and Merkel corpuscles share many morphological similarities, which has led to some confusion in the literature over their classification.
Microneurography is a neurophysiological method employed to visualize and record the traffic of nerve impulses that are conducted in peripheral nerves of waking human subjects. It can also be used in animal recordings. The method has been successfully employed to reveal functional properties of a number of neural systems, e.g. sensory systems related to touch, pain, and muscle sense as well as sympathetic activity controlling the constriction state of blood vessels. To study nerve impulses of an identified nerve, a fine tungsten needle microelectrode is inserted into the nerve and connected to a high input impedance differential amplifier. The exact position of the electrode tip within the nerve is then adjusted in minute steps until the electrode discriminates nerve impulses of interest. A unique feature and a significant strength of the microneurography method is that subjects are fully awake and able to cooperate in tests requiring mental attention, while impulses in a representative nerve fibre or set of nerve fibres are recorded, e.g. when cutaneous sense organs are stimulated or subjects perform voluntary precision movements.
Cutaneous innervation refers to an area of the skin which is supplied by a specific cutaneous nerve.
Group Aβ of the type II sensory fiber is a type of sensory fiber, the second of the two main groups of touch receptors. The responses of different type Aβ fibers to these stimuli can be subdivided based on their adaptation properties, traditionally into rapidly adapting (RA) or slowly adapting (SA) neurons. Type II sensory fibers are slowly-adapting (SA), meaning that even when there is no change in touch, they keep respond to stimuli and fire action potentials. In the body, Type II sensory fibers belong to pseudounipolar neurons. The most notable example are neurons with Merkel cell-neurite complexes on their dendrites and Ruffini endings. Under pathological conditions they may become hyper-excitable leading to stimuli that would usually elicit sensations of tactile touch causing pain. These changes are in part induced by PGE2 which is produced by COX1, and type II fibers with free nerve endings are likely to be the subdivision of fibers that carry out this function.
Eimer's organs are organs for the sense of touch, shaped like bulbous papillae, formed from modified epidermis. First isolated by Theodor Eimer from the European mole in 1871, these organs are present in many moles, and are particularly dense on the star-nosed mole, which bears 25,000 of them on its unique tentacled snout. The organs are formed from a stack of epidermal cells, which is innervated by myelinated fibers from the dermis, which form terminal swellings just below the keratinized outer surface of the epidermis. They contain a complex of Merkel cell and neurite in the epidermis, and a lamellated corpuscle in the dermal connective tissue.
Pallesthesia, or vibratory sensation, is the ability to perceive vibration. This sensation, often conducted through skin and bone, is usually generated by mechanoreceptors such as Pacinian corpuscles, Merkel disk receptors, and tactile corpuscles. All of these receptors stimulate an action potential in afferent nerves found in various layers of the skin and body. The afferent neuron travels to the spinal column and then to the brain where the information is processed. Damage to the peripheral nervous system or central nervous system can result in a decline or loss of pallesthesia.
The axon reflex is the response stimulated by peripheral nerves of the body that travels away from the nerve cell body and branches to stimulate target organs. Reflexes are single reactions that respond to a stimulus making up the building blocks of the overall signaling in the body's nervous system. Neurons are the excitable cells that process and transmit these reflex signals through their axons, dendrites, and cell bodies. Axons directly facilitate intercellular communication projecting from the neuronal cell body to other neurons, local muscle tissue, glands and arterioles. In the axon reflex, signaling starts in the middle of the axon at the stimulation site and transmits signals directly to the effector organ skipping both an integration center and a chemical synapse present in the spinal cord reflex. The impulse is limited to a single bifurcated axon, or a neuron whose axon branches into two divisions and does not cause a general response to surrounding tissue.
The somatosensory system, or somatic sensory system is a subset of the sensory nervous system. It has two subdivisions, one for the detection of mechanosensory information related to touch, and the other for the nociception detection of pain and temperature. The main functions of the somatosensory system are the perception of external stimuli, the perception of internal stimuli, and the regulation of body position and balance (proprioception).
Group A nerve fibers are one of the three classes of nerve fiber as generally classified by Erlanger and Gasser. The other two classes are the group B nerve fibers, and the group C nerve fibers. Group A are heavily myelinated, group B are moderately myelinated, and group C are unmyelinated.