Cutaneous receptor

Type of sensory receptor

A cutaneous receptor is the type of sensory receptor found in the skin ( the dermis or epidermis). They are a part of the somatosensory system. Cutaneous receptors include mechanoreceptors (pressure or distortion), nociceptors (pain), and thermoreceptors (temperature).^[1]

Types

The sensory receptors in the skin are:

• Mechanoreceptors
  • Ruffini's end organ (skin stretch)
  • End-bulbs of Krause (Cold)
  • Meissner's corpuscle (changes in texture, slow vibrations)
  • Pacinian corpuscle (deep pressure, fast vibrations)
  • Merkel's disc (sustained touch and pressure)
  • Free nerve endings
• thermoreceptor
• nociceptors
• chemoreceptors

Modalities

With the above-mentioned receptor types the skin can sense the modalities touch, pressure, vibration, temperature and pain. The modalities and their receptors are partly overlapping, and are innervated by different kinds of fiber types.

Morphology

Cutaneous receptors are at the ends of afferent neurons. works within the capsule. Ion channels are situated near these networks.

In sensory transduction, the afferent nerves transmit through a series of synapses in the central nervous system, first in the spinal cord, the ventrobasal portion of the thalamus, and then on to the somatosensory cortex.^[2]

See also

• Sense
• Receptor
• Skin
• Epithelium
• Opsin § Opsins in the human eye, brain, and skin

References

1. Lincoln R. J., Boxshall G. A. (1990): Natural history - The Cambridge illustrated dictionary. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, ISBN 0 521 30551-9.
2. Mada S. S. (2000): Human Biology. McGraw–Hill, New York, ISBN 0-07-290584-0.