Neurophysiology I

Human Anatomy and Physiology II

Paper code: HEAL609
Marieb, E. N., & Hoehn, K. (2016). Human anatomy & physiology
(10th ed.). Harlow, England: Pearson.

Chapter 13 (pp.505-512, 532, 492-493)

Lecture outcomes:
• Discuss sensory receptor input to the CNS
• Discuss pain, pain receptors, and the pathways which
conduct pain messages
• Explain referred and phantom pain

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Organization of the Nervous System

Figure 7.2
Functions of the N. System

Figure 7.1
In Latin language “recipio” means to receive
Sensory receptors:
• represent components of the nervous system, which are
specialised to respond to changes in their environment
• respond to stimuli

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Sensory receptors are transducers

• Sensory receptors convert stimulus energy to an action potential

• Action potential or nerve signal is sent along the sensory neuron to the
CNS for interpretation
• Afferent sensory impulses that reach cerebral cortex of the brain result in
our conscious awareness
• Awareness of the stimulus is called sensation
• Perception (occurs in the brain at the perceptual level) represents the
interpretation of the meaning of the stimulus

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 Processing at the perceptual level
occurs in cortical sensory centres
located in the
Primary somatosensory area

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3/2/2019 Dr. Ljiljana Jowitt 8
Classification of sensory receptors by the:

1. Type of stimulus they detect

2. Body location
3. Structural complexity

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 Classification of sensory receptors by the type of
stimulus they detect
• Mechanoreceptors respond to mechanical force such as: touch, pressure,
vibration, and stretch
• Thermoreceptors respond to temperature changes
• Photoreceptors respond to light
• Chemoreceptors respond to chemicals in solution (tasted or smelled) or
changes in blood and fluid chemistry
• Nociceptors respond to damaging stimuli that result in pain.
• “ one receptor-one structure” one type of receptor can respond to different
kind of stimuli (e.g. thermoreceptor)

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All mechanoreceptors vary in shape, size, and distribution

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 Classification of sensory receptors by location

1. Receptors which detect stimuli coming from the external environment

(exteroceptors) detect: touch, pressure, pain, temperature. They also
include sensory receptors for the vision, hearing, balance, smell and
taste
2. Receptors which detect chemical changes, tissue stretch and
temperature are located on our visceral organs (visceroceptors).
3. Proprioceptors occur in skeletal muscles, tendons, joints, and
ligaments and in the connective tissue coverings of bones and
muscles

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Muscle spindles: found in a connective Proprioceptors (simple receptors): skeletal
sheet of a skeletal muscle. Consists of a muscles, tendons, joints, and ligaments.
bundle of modified skeletal muscle fibres
enclosed in a connective tissue capsule.
Detects muscle stretch and initiate a
reflex that resists the stretch.
Golgi - tendon organs: bundle of
tendon fibres enclosed in a layered
capsule. Prevents stretching of the
tendons by initiating the relaxation of a
muscle.
Joint (kinaesthetic) receptor:
monitor stretch in the articular capsule of
the synovial joint. Provide information on
joint position and movement. https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=spindle+fibre+proprioceptors&biw=1920&bih=940&source=lnms&tbm=isch
&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjcz4iQ47jOAhUHoZQKHcQJCJ8Q_AUIBigB#imgrc=i3JGLIMoJjFpRM%3A

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Classification of sensory receptors by structural complexity
• General senses: modified dendritic endings of the sensory
neurons
Simple receptors of the general senses are involved in tactile
sensations, temperature and pain, and “muscle sense” provided
by proprioceptors
Simple receptors can be encapsulated and non-encapsulated
• Special senses: vision, hearing, equilibrium, smell and taste
Receptors for special senses are housed in
complex sense organs
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Animation: Skin sensory receptors’ function
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Sense organ: Hearing receptors

Hair cells or hearing receptors

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Photoreceptors: inside a
sense organ

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Photoreceptors 17
 Sensory neuron is
Motor neuron
multipolar
is unipolar

Neuron inside the brain is an

effector –bipolar neuron
http://www.chegg.com/homework-help/questions-and-answers/describing-classification-neurons-complete-sentences-describing-
classification-neurons-neu-q23172623

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• Sensory fibres carrying Organisation of the Somatosensory System
impulses from peripheral
sensory receptors form the
dorsal roots of the spinal
cord
• The cell bodies of the first
order neurons are found in
an enlarged region of the
dorsal root called the dorsal
root ganglion (DRG)
• After entering the spinal
cord, second order neurons
are running to the brain
(thalamus)
• The third order neurons are
heading to cerebral cortex Figure 7.21
for processing
Cortical sensory homunculus
Primary somatosensory
area (parietal lobe)

Figure: 12.8
 Discuss pain, pain receptors, and the pathways,
which conduct pain messages

• The Latin verb “nocere” means “to hurt,” or “noxious” means “harmful”
• Pain receptors are called nociceptors
• Nociceptors are free branching unmyelinated nerve endings that
indicate that body tissue is been damaged
• Activation of nociceptors can lead to the conscious experience of pain

Nociception* is the sensory process that provides the nerve signals that
trigger pain
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Perception of pain

• Pain is invaluable sensation, because it warns us of

impending injury
• Pain management is difficult because its intensely personal
experience and cannot be measured objectively
• Pain triggers fear and anxiety and can hinder the healing
process. Hence, the pain relief is now considered to be of
utmost importance in health care.

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Nociceptors are:
• absent in the brain itself, except for the meningeal membranes that are
connected to sensory (afferent fibres)
Nociceptors can be somatic, neuropathic, and visceral:
• somatic nociceptors detect chemical, heat, or mechanical damage to the
skin, skeletal muscles, and joints
• visceral nociceptors detect internal body damage within the visceral
organs
• neuropathic pain is the result of nerve injury or compression; includes
phantom pain

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• Nociception is transmitted along the A and C sensitive nerve fibres
A fibres:
• Large diameter myelinated A fibres conduct impulses very quickly.
• Nociception is transmitted along A-δ (a sub-type of A fibres). They transmit
sharp localised pain to the CNS
C-fibres
• The unmyelinated small-diameter sensory fibres are termed C fibres. They
have relatively slow-transmission rate, and transmit dull, diffuse pain, and
aching sensations. Activated only by strong stimuli

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• A-delta nerve fibres carry information related to pain and temperature.
• C-nerve fibres carry information related to pain, temperature and itch.

http://www.allcare.org/CancerPain-and-SymptomManagement/comfort/cfm2/cfm2_cont.htm

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The anterolateral or spinothalamic pathway
• Spinothalamic pain pathway is located in the
anterior and lateral white funiculi of the spinal cord
• It is composed of the lateral spinothalamic tract
which conduct nerve signals for pain and
temperature
and
anterior spinothalamic tract which conduct nerve
signals for crude touch or pressure.
Figure 12.32
Anterolateral Pathway.
This pathway conducts crude touch, pressure, pain, and
temperature sensations toward the brain. Decussation
of axons occurs at the level where the primary neuron
axon enters the spinal cord.
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• Both, A and C fibres (sensory neurons) release the neurotransmitters
glutamate and substance P which activate second-order neurons

• Axons from second order neurons ascend to the brain via

spinothalamic pain pathway

Modulation of pain:
• The brain has its own pain suppressing analgesic systems in which the
endogenous opioids such as endorphins and enkephalins play the role
• Descending fibres activate interneurons in the spinal cord which
further releases inhibitory neurotransmitter enkephalins

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 The 3rd order neuron runs from the
thalamus towards the primary Pain information is also processed in the:
somatosensory area

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brainstem, hypothalamus, midbrain, and
limbic system

The 2nd order neuron

Primary
somatosensory area
The 1st order neuron

© LJ Jowitt
Nociceptor

Stimulus -heat

Phases of nociceptive pain

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Dermatomes
• A dermatome is a specific segment of skin supplied by a single
spinal nerve
• All spinal nerves except for C1 (cervical 1) innervate a segment of
skin
• The skin of the body is divided into sensory segment that make
up a dermatome maps

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 Figure 13.13

Dermatome Maps
A dermatome is an area of skin
supplied by a single spinal nerve.
These diagrams only approximate
the dermatomal distribution

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Referred pain:“CROSS TALK”
• Referred pain occurs when sensory nerve signals from certain viscera are
perceived as originating not from that organ, but from somatic sensory
receptors within the skin and skeletal muscles.
• Hence, referred pain occurs when visceral nociceptor activation is perceived
as cutaneous sensation or from dermatomes

For example: appendicitis, angina pectoris

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 Clinical application of dermatomes

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32
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Phantom pain
• “Phantom” means ghost
• Phantom sensation (pain) involves conscious perception and sensation
of body parts that have been removed.
For example:
phantom limb patient may experience pain, tactile sensations, pressure,
touch, temperature, vibrations etc….that seems localized in a leg that is
no longer there.
Explanation: the cell bodies of the sensory neurons that had previously
innervated the limb remain alive, because they were not part of the limb
but rather, reside in dorsal root ganglia by the spinal cord.

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Do not need to
know this!

Cortical Reorganisation is the most cited theory

explaining the aetiology of phantom limb pain.
Cortical reorganisation theory suggests that
maladaptive cortical reorganisation occurs in the
somatosensory cortex as well as the motor cortex
Surrounding areas take over control of the
somatosensory and motor representations of the
missing limb.
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