CH 16 Sense Organs Spring 2024
CH 16 Sense Organs Spring 2024
CH 16 Sense Organs Spring 2024
Sense Organs
Objectives
– Define receptor and sense organ.
– List the four kinds of information obtained from sensory receptors, and describe how the
nervous system encodes each type.
– Explain the mechanisms of pain and the spinal blocking of pain signals.
16-2
General Senses
16-3
Introduction
16-4
16-5
Unencapsulated Nerve Endings
– Tactile discs
• For light touch and texture
– Hair receptors
• Wrap around base hair follicle
• Monitor movement of hair
16-6
General Senses
16-7
Thermoreceptors and Nociceptors
(Temperature and Pain)
16-8
Proprioceptors
(Limb Position)
16-9
Introduction
Transduction - Conversion of stimulus energy (light, heat, touch, sound, etc.) into nerve signals.
16-10
Classification of Receptors
• By modality
– Thermoreceptors, photoreceptors, nociceptors, chemoreceptors (pH), and
mechanoreceptors (blood pressure)
• By origin of stimuli
– Exteroceptors: detect external stimuli
– Interoceptors: detect internal stimuli
– Proprioceptors: sense body position and limb movement
• By distribution
– General (somesthetic) senses: widely distributed
– Special senses: limited to head
• Vision, hearing, equilibrium, taste, and smell
Sensory Information
Sensory receptors transmit four kinds of information:
Modality: Type of stimuli (vision, hearing and taste)
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General Properties of Receptors
Sensory adaptation: if stimulus is prolonged, the firing of the neuron gets slower over time, and we
become less aware of the stimulus
– Phasic receptor: generate a burst of action potentials when first stimulated, then quickly adapt and
sharply reduce or stop signaling even though the stimulus continues.
• Smell, hair movement, and cutaneous pressure
• Can you feel your socks? your rings?
16-13
Somatosensory Projection Pathways
From receptor to final destination in the brain, most somesthetic signals travel by way of
three neurons
• First-order neuron (afferent neuron)
– From body, via spinal nerves
– From head, enter pons and medulla via cranial nerve
• Second-order neuron
– Decussation to opposite side in spinal cord,
medulla, or pons
– End in thalamus, except for proprioception, which ends in cerebellum
• Third-order neuron
– Thalamus to primary somesthetic cortex of cerebrum
16-14
Pain
• Pain—discomfort caused by tissue injury or noxious stimulation, and typically leading to evasive action
16-15
16-16
Referred pain
• Referred pain—Pain from an organ often mistakenly thought to come from the skin
or other superficial site
– Results from convergence of neural pathways in CNS
– Heart pain felt in shoulder or arm because both send pain input to spinal cord segments T1 to T5
16-17
Central Nervous System: Pain Modulation
Analgesic (pain-relieving) mechanisms of CNS just beginning to be understood
• Endogenous opioids: internally produced opium-like substances:
– Secreted by the CNS, pituitary gland, digestive tract, and other organs
– Spinal gating –stops pain at the posterior horn of the spinal cord.
• Ex. Rubbing or Massaging an injury is a form of spinal gating.
• Rubbing stimulates spinal interneurons to secrete enkephalins
that inhibit second-order pain neurons
16-18
Special Senses:
Gustation
16-19
Expected Learning Outcomes
– Explain how taste receptors are stimulated.
16-20
Special Senses - Gustation
Gustation (taste)—sensation that results from action of chemicals (tastants) on taste buds
(chemoreceptors).
16-21
Taste
16-22
Taste
Supporting cells
• Resemble taste cells without taste hairs
Basal cells
• Stem cells that replace taste cells every 7 to 10 days
16-23
Taste – Vallate Papilla
Taste buds
Vallate papilla
Taste cells
Supporting cells
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Taste
• Five primary sensations: Important for your survival!
– Sweet: associated with carbohydrates and other foods of high caloric value. Sugars, saccharin, alcohol
and some amino acids – regulate blood sugar.
– Bitter: associated with spoiled foods and alkaloids such as nicotine, caffeine, quinine, and morphine.
– Umami: “meaty” taste of the amino acids (aspartic acid & glutamic acid) in chicken or beef
broth.
• Taste is influenced by food texture, aroma (taste is 80% smell) temperature, and appearance.
16-26
Gustatory Pathway
Three cranial nerves carry impulses from taste buds to the solitary nucleus in medulla oblongata:
– Facial nerve (CNVII) collects sensory information from taste buds over anterior two-thirds of tongue
– Glossopharyngeal nerve (IX) from posterior one-third of tongue
– Vagus nerve (X) from taste buds of palate, pharynx, and epiglottis
16-27
Projection Pathway of Taste
From there, signals sent to two destinations
– Hypothalamus and amygdala control autonomic reflexes: salivation, gagging, and vomiting.
– Thalamus relays signals to primary gustatory cortex of cerebrum for conscious sense of
taste.
Special Senses:
Olfaction
Expected Learning Outcomes
– Explain how smell receptors are stimulated.
– Describe the receptors and projection pathways for smell.
16-30
Olfaction
• Olfaction—sense of smell, action of odorants on
chemoreceptors
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Olfactory Mucosa
• Olfactory cells
– Only neurons in the body directly exposed to the external environment
– Have a lifespan of only 60 days
• Supporting cells
• Basal cells
– Divide and differentiate to replace olfactory cells
Ethmoid Bone and Olfaction
16-33
Olfaction
Olfactory bulb
Olfactory nerve
1. Reach primary olfactory cortex in the inferior surface of the temporal lobe
• signals can reach the cerebral cortex without passing first through the thalamus
16-35
Olfactory Physiology
• Humans have a poorer sense of smell than most other mammals.
– Humans have only about 350 kinds of olfactory receptors.
– Women more sensitive to odors than men; especially to certain odors at time they are ovulating.
• Pheromones are chemicals (odors) that exerts subtle affects on the behavior and physiology of other people.
• Ovulating women’s vaginal secretions contain pheromones called copulins, that have been shown to raise
men’s testosterone level.
Special Senses:
Hearing and Equilibrium
16-37
Expected Learning Outcomes
– Identify the properties of sound waves that account for pitch and loudness.
– Explain how the ear converts vibrations to nerve signals and discriminates
between sounds of different intensity and pitch.
– Explain how the vestibular apparatus enables the brain to interpret the body’s
position and movements.
– Describe the pathways taken by auditory and vestibular signals to the brain.
16-38
Special Senses -Hearing and Equilibrium
• Hearing—a response to vibrating air molecules
• Equilibrium—the sense of motion, body orientation, and balance
– Both senses reside in the inner ear, a maze of fluid-filled passages and sensory cells
– Fluid is set in motion and the sensory cells (mechanoreceptors) convert this motion into an informative pattern of
action potentials.
16-39
Hearing
• Hearing—a response to vibrating air molecules
• A vibrating object pushes on air molecules- a mechanical wave.
• In turn push on other air molecules
• Air molecules hitting eardrum cause it to vibrate
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Cochlear nerve
Vestibule
Auricle Cochlea
Round window
Tympanic
membrane
Auditory Tympanic cavity
canal
Tensor tympani
muscle
Auditory tube
Lobule
Figure 16.11
Outer ear Middle ear Inner ear
16-40
Pitch & Loudness
• Pitch—our sense of whether a sound is “high” or “low”
– Frequency: cycles per second, or hertz (Hz)
– Human hearing range is 20 to 20,000 Hz, speech is 1,500 to 5,000 Hz, where hearing is most sensitive
– Hearing loss with age is 250 to 2,050 Hz
16-41
Anatomy of the Ear
16-42
Outer (external) Ear
Outer ear—a funnel for conducting vibrations to the tympanic membrane (eardrum)
16-43
Middle Ear
Tympanic membrane (eardrum) closes the inner end of the auditory canal, separates it from the middle ear.
• Physiology: Vibrates freely in response to sound, transfers sound energy to the bones (ossicles) of the middle ear.
16-44
The Auditory Tube of an
Infant and Adult
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Tympanic Membrane with Otitis media
Otoscopic Photograph: Lateral
Tympanic
membrane
Wall of
Normal external
tympanic acoustic
membrane meatus
– Scala vestibuli: superior chamber Begins at oval window and spirals to apex. Filled with perilymph
– Scala media (cochlear duct): triangular middle chamber
• Filled with endolymph
• Contains spiral organ—Organ of Corti : acoustic organ that converts vibrations into nerve impulses
– Scala tympani: inferior chamber
• Filled with perilymph
• Begins at apex and ends at round window
16-48
Hearing: Inner Ear
Endolymph (similar to intracellular fluid) and perilymph (similar to cerebrospinal fluid)
16-49
Potassium Channels of the Cochlear Hair Cells
Sensorineural (nerve) deafness: death of cochlear hair cells or any nervous system elements concerned with
hearing
• Factory workers, musicians, construction workers
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Basilar Membrane Frequency Response
16-51
Cochlea Modiolus
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Basilar Vestibular
membrane Cochlea
Photos © McGraw-Hill Education
membrane
Scala tympani Scala vestibuli Spiral ganglion Spiral ligament Spiral organ
of cochlea
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Spiral Organ
Basilar
Tectorial
membrane
membrane
Inner Outer
phalangeal hair
cells cells
16-55
(c)
Auditory Pathway
Auricle → external auditory meatus (canal) → tympanic membrane → malleus →incus →stapes→ oval window →auditory
hair cells (in spiral organ of Corti in cochlea)→ cochlear nerve → medulla →inferior colliculus (auditory reflex center in
midbrain) → thalamus (sensory integration center) →primary auditory cortex (temporal lobe)
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Deafness
16-58
Equilibrium
Vestibular apparatus (inner ear)—contains mechanoreceptors for equilibrium in the semicircular canals and vestibule.
– Three semicircular ducts
• Detect only angular or rotational acceleration (dynamic equilibrium) – change in rate of rotation: car turns a corner,
spinning in chair .
16-59
Special Senses - Equilibrium
16-60
The Saccule and Utricle
• Macula—a 2 by 3 mm patch of hair cells and supporting cells in the saccule and utricle.
• Each hair cell has 40 to 70 stereocilia embedded in a gelatinous otolithic membrane.
16-61
The Semicircular Ducts
Rotary movements (dynamic angular acceleration) detected by the three semicircular ducts
(spinning in a chair)
16-62
Vestibular Projection Pathways
Figure 16.22
Pathologies
• Tinnitus: ringing or clicking sounds in the ears in the absence of auditory stimuli, due to cochlear
nerve degeneration; side effects of aspirin, inflammation of middle or inner ear.
• Meniere’s syndrome: disorder that affects the cochlea an semicircular canals. Causes vertigo,
nausea, and vomiting.
16-64
Special Senses:
Vision
16-65
Expected Learning Outcomes
– Describe the anatomy of the eye and its accessory structures.
– Discuss the structure of the retina and its receptor cells.
– Explain how the optical system of the eye creates an image on the retina.
– Discuss how the retina converts this image to nerve signals.
– Describe the mechanism of color vision.
– Trace the visual projection pathways in the brain
16-66
Accessory Structures of the Eye
• Eyebrows provide facial expression
– Protect eyes from glare and perspiration
• Eyelids (palpebrae)
– Block foreign objects, help with sleep,
blink to moisten
– Meet at corners (lateral and medial commissures)
16-67
Accessory Structures of the Eye
.
Trochlea
Figure 16.25c
Accessory Structures of the Eye: Lacrimal
Apparatus
• Lacrimal secretions (tears), a dilute saline solution containing mucus, are produced by the lacrimal gland, flow across
eyeball to help wash away foreign particles, deliver O2 and nutrients, and prevent infection with a bactericidal lysozyme and
antibody A.
• Tears flow through lacrimal punctum (opening on edge of each eyelid) via the lacrimal canal to the lacrimal sac, then
into the nasolacrimal duct emptying into nasal cavity 16-70
Anatomy of the Eye
Sclera
. Ora serrata
Choroid
Ciliary body
Retina
Lens
Central artery
and vein
of retina Anterior
chamber
Posterior
chamber
Hyaloid canal
Vitreous body
16-72
The Optical Components
• Cornea: transparent anterior cover.
Cornea
Anterior chamber
Scleral Iris
venous sinus
Ciliary body: Posterior
Ciliary chamber
process
Lens
Ciliary Vitreous
muscle body
Figure 16.26
16-75
The Neural Components
• Optic nerve (optic disc)
• Retina
– Attached to the rest of the eye only at optic disc (posterior) and at ora serrata (anterior)
• Optic Disc (blind spot) site where the optic nerve leaves the eye and there are not photoreceptor cells.
16-76
The Fundus (Rear) of the Eye
Retina
Ophthalmoscopic Photograph - Anterior
Cone cells (color, photopic, or day vision) Bright light, high acuity, central
– Three types of cones:
• Long-wave lengths cones (red) respond to low frequency (vibration)
Wavelength = frequency (vibrations)
• Medium-wave lengths cones (green)
• Short-wave lengths cones (blue) respond to high frequency (vibration)
Rod cells (night, or scotopic, vision or monochromatic vision) Dim light, peripheral vision
– Provide indistinct, fuzzy, non-color peripheral vision
– Perceived input is in gray tones only – black/white
16-79
Visual Pigments
16-80
Visual Pigments
16-81
Visual Pigments
16-83
The Visual Projection Pathway
Cornea → aqueous humor of anterior segment → lens → vitreous humor of posterior segment → retina
(photoreceptors → bipolar cells → ganglion cells) → optic nerve → optic chiasm → optic tract → thalamus
(sensory integration center) → primary visual cortex (occipital lobe) 16-84
The Near Response
– Convergence of eyes
• Eyes orient their visual axis toward object
– Constriction of pupil
• Blocks peripheral light rays and reduces spherical
aberration (blurry edges)
– Accommodation of lens
• Ciliary muscle contracts, lens takes convex shape
• Light refracted more strongly and focused onto retina
16-85
Cataracts and Glaucoma
• Cataract
– Induced by diabetes, smoking, drugs,
ultraviolet radiation, and certain viruses
– Lens fibers darken with age, fluid-filled
bubbles and clefts filled with debris appear
between the fibers —clouding of lens
– Replace natural lens with plastic one
16-86