Touch and Pain

Cutaneous senses

Provide information from the surface of the body

Proprioception

Provide information about location of the body in space

Kinesthesia

Provide information about movement of the body through space

Organic senses

Provide information from in and around internal organs

Glaborous skin

Skin without hair

Three layers of skin

Epidermis, dermis, and subcutaneous tissue

Mechanoreceptors

Rapidly adapting, slowly adapting (touch)

Thermoreceptors

Warm fibers, cold fibers (temperature)

Nociceptors

Respond only to strong pressure, high heat, burning chemicals (pain)

what is sensitivity to pressure and vibration caused by

Movement of the skin, which moves dendrites of mechanoreceptors

What mechanoreceptors are encapsulated?

Merkel’s disks, Ruffini corpuscles, and meissner’s corpuscle (all have more defined sensation)

What mechanoreceptors are slowly adapting (respond to more sustained stimuli)

Merkel’s disks and Ruffini corpuscles

What mechanoreceptors are rapidly adapting (activated by quick changes in the environment)

Meissner’s corpuscles and pacinian corpuscles

What is temperature accomplished by

Networks of free nerve endings in skin

What is the sensory organ for touch?

Skin

What is glaborous skin?

Skin without hair

What are the three layers of skin?

Epidermis, dermis, and subcutaneous tissue

What do nociceptors respond to

Strong pressure, high heat, and burning chemicals

What do thermoreceptors respond to?

Warm and cold fibers

What is the function of Merkel’s disks?

respond to light, general touch, fine textures and vibrations

What do Ruffini corpuscles detect?

Stretching of the skin

What do Meissner’s corpuscles detect?

Changes in roughness

What do Pacinian corpuscles detect?

Sensation to changes in vibrations

How is the feeling of temperature and pain accomplished

Networks of free nerve endings in the skin

What are the two categories of thermoreceptors

Respond to warmth (located deep in the skin) and respond to coolness (located beneath epidermis)

What do the three types of pain receptors respond to?

Intense pressure, extremes of heat, acids, and capsaicin, and respond to pungent irritants

What types of receptors are responsible for sensing spice in foods?

TRPV1 receptors

Dermatomes

A map of the skin that shows where on the spinal cord this information is being processed

What piece of puzzle of pain corresponds to chronic pain?

Pain when no noxious stimulus is present

What piece of puzzle of pain corresponds to spicy food (psychological effect)

No pain when there is a noxious stimulus present

What piece of puzzle of pain corresponds to the placebo effect

Manipulations that should not affect pain, but do