Lecture 23 Sense Organs

Kardong Chapter 17, Hildebrand Chapter 19

Sense Organs
Sense organs are transducers that translate energy from one form into another, i.e., to an electric signal in the nervous system. By doing so, they provide information to guide movement, away from danger or toward food or mates.

Special sense organs include the olfactory epithelium, the eyes, and the ears
and lateral line. These are unique to vertebrates, ie., comparable organs in other phyla are analagous, not homologous.

General sense organs are widely distributed over the body, both internally
(interoceptors) and externally (exteroceptors).
KK 17.2, H&G 19.1 KK 17.3, H&G 19.2

Chemoreceptors or Taste Buds

Taste buds distinguish four basic chemical signals*. While concentrated on the tongue in mammals, they are generally distributed in the mouth of non-amniotes as well as on their skin.

KK 17.15, H&G 19.6

KK 17.5
*For the latest: Chandrashekar, J. et al. 2006. The receptors and cells for mammalian taste. Nature 444: 288-294

KK 17.15

Special Sense Organs - Olfactory Epithelium

The chemoreceptors of the olfactory epithelium can discriminate among a greater diversity of chemicals and often at much lower concentrations than taste buds.
KK 17.7
Shark Nasal Cavity, KK 17.9b. H&G 19.4

Vomeronasal Organs
Vomeronasal organs are patches of olfactory epithelium in a chamber on the palate, rather than in the nasal chamber. They are present in many tetrapods. In mammals with this organ, it is connected to the mouth via the nasopalatine duct in the secondary palate. In many reptiles, the tongue is used to collect scent molecules and deliver them to the vomeronasal organ.

KK 17.14, H&G 19.5

Like the optic nerve (II), the olfactory nerve (I) that serves the olfactory organs is not serially homologous with the dorsal root spinal nerves, and can be considered part of the brain.

Development of the Eye

The vertebrate eye has an interesting compound development, beginning with lateral evaginations of the embryonic midbrain that induce formation of the lens placodes on the ectoderm.

KK 17.18, H&G 19.16

The neurectoderm of the optic vesicle eventually produces the optic nerve, retina, pigment layer, and iris. The conjunctiva, cornea and lens are from ectoderm. The capsule around the eye, or schlera, plus the choroid layer and ciliary body, are from mesenchyme. Extrinsic eye muscles are from myotomes.

KK 17.18d, H&G 19.12

Structure of the retina

The sensory cells of the eye are rod and cone cells, the cones predominating near the fovea (centre) and the rods at the periphery and in nocturnal animals. Cones sense different colours, but need more light. The pigment layer captures stray light, but in nocturnal animals it may be replaced by a reflective tapetum lucidum. Note the short bipolar sensory neurons between the nerve cells and optic nerve. Ciliary receptors?

KK 17.17, H&G 19.14

Lateral lines and Inner Ears

While lateral lines and ears seem an odd combination of things to include under one heading, they have a common developmental origin and very similar mechanoreceptors called hair cells. As with rods and cones, the sensitive part of the sensor is a cilium. In lateral the line, these hair cells are organized into sense organs called neuromasts that lie in the lateral line canal and are sensitive to currents or vibration.
KK 17.31, H&G 19.7

Lateral Line Systems KK 17.32, H&G 19.7

Lateral lines are found in fish and in some Amphibia, particularly larval forms and aquatic salamanders. They consist of a groove or tube with pores. Along the tube or groove are sense organs called neuromasts. These contain sensitive cilia enclosed in a gelatinous cupula. The neuromast organs can detect current or vibrations in water. Fish use them to detect movement of water or movement of other animals.

The Inner Ear or Vestibular Apparatus

KK 17.33,H&G 19.8

The inner ear is serially homologous with the lateral line system; one of a series of ectodermal placodes generating the lateral line system sinks deeply into the head, under the influence of the hindbrain, to produce the vestibular apparatus. Patches of sense organs (cristae) at the bases of the semicircular canals are very similar in their morphology to neuromasts. Cristae sense water movements, thereby providing information on rotation.

The Inner Ear or Vestibular Apparatus 2

KK 17.33,H&G 19.8

The chambers below the semicircular canals are called the utriculus and the sacculus, and contains patches of sense organs called maculae. The maculae, rather than having a gelatinous cupula, support mineral concretions called otoliths. These earstones are particularly large in fishes that live in turbid environments, like the freshwater drum. They bend the cilia of the hair cells in response to change in orientation with respect to gravity or acceleration. In fishes and other vertebrates that can hear with the vestibular apparatus, that sense is due to a part of the the sacculus called the lagena.

Inner Ear of Tetrapods

In tetrapods, the inner ear is similar and has the same functions in respect of the utriculus and saccule. But the ventral extension of the sacculus, called the lagena in fish and lower tetrapods, is much larger in vertebrates with acute hearing and is now called the cochlea. This ventral extension, whether lagena or cochlea, is the organ of hearing. Its length reflects the range of pitch that can be detected, low notes being detected in the distal portion.
KK 17.34, 17.36, H&G 19.8

Mammal

The Mammalian Ear

Echolocation?
KK 17.44,45, H&G Fig. 19.10

1. Tympanum picks up sound waves 2. Ear ossicles translates sound waves to oval window on the space housing of the inner ear. 3. Sound waves travel through the scala vestibuli to the tip of the cochlea and back through the scala tympani. The hair cells of the organ of Corti lie in a separate chamber, the scala media, between these two, with their cilia embedded in the tectorial membrane. Vibration of the tectoral membrane is registered by the Organ of Corti and stimulates a branch of the auditory nerve (VIII).

Directional Hearing....
Owls are able to use their sensitive hearing to detect prey. Their facial disk helps gather sound waves to the auditory canal, and that is assymetric to assist in using differential hearing to pinpoint their prey. Bats and marine mammals take this further, producing their own sounds and using these to detect silent prey and other objects by echolocation.

Course Summary (i.e., what I hope you remember after the final)
1. Vertebrates evolved from a common ancestor and show many similarities. Despite the morphological and functional diversity of vertebrates, major organs are homologous, and differences represent adaptation. 2. Some adaptations have occurred independently, in parallel, in different groups. 3. Vertebrates are more than 500 million years old, but taxa come and go relatively rapidly. The fauna of the earth is dynamic. 4. The relatedness of vertebrates is most apparent in the their development; vertebrate embryos have features that echo (recapitulate) their evolutionary history. 5. Reconciling the present vertebrate fauna of the earth with the fossil record and developmental biology represents one of the major achievements of science. The big picture is largely roughed in, but progress is ongoing.