CHAPTER 10:

Sensory Physiology

Sensory Physiology

How we perceive our environment Six sensory systems

Somatosensory
Three common steps associated
Touch
with any sense:

1. A physical stimulus
2. Sensory transduction:
transformation of sensory input into
nerve impulses
3. Formulation of perception, or our
conscious experience of that
sensation

Proprioception
Temperature
Pain
Itch

Visual
Auditory
Vestibular
Olfactory
Gustatory
*forms of nociception occur
in the others, too. Just less
often

Sensory Physiology

Four basic types of information

conveyed by each sensory
system:

1. Modality of stimulus: type of

receptor
2. Intensity of stimulus: AP
frequency
3. Time course of stimulus: phasic
vs tonic
4. Location of stimulus

The sensory cells

Some are themselves neurons

Most are specialized epithelial cells
that synapse on adjacent sensory
neurons

Four functional classes of

sensory receptors

1. Mechanoreceptors
2. Chemoreceptors
3. Thermoreceptors
4. Photoreceptors

Sensory receptors at the

protein level:

Channels (e.g. stretch

receptors)
GPCRs (e.g. photoreceptors
of retina)

Modalities & sensory receptors

The five senses:

Taste
Touch (a somatic sense)
Smell
Sight
Sound

Additionally, we include:

Other somatic senses

Pain
Temperature
Itch
Proprioception

Sense of balance (vestibular

system)

Each sensory receptor

responds to a particular
modality
The sensory receptor
transduces the external
stimulus into internal
electrical impulses

Stimulus transduction
Receptor potentials are
generated across their
dendritic membranes in
response to stimuli (cable
like properties)

Sensory Adaptation

Duration of sensation is in part

encoded by adaptation of
receptors
Phasic receptors
Fast adapting; ex: touch
your arm and feel it
instantly. After a while you
dont even notice it
More abundant
Tonic receptors
Slow adapting
Sensory systems detect contrasts

FIGURE 10.1

The Receptive Field

The receptive field of a sensory neuron encodes the location of the stimulus
In sensory systems, the receptive field is oftentimes comprised of a center
and a surround; magnitude of sensation and contrast between center/
surround are directly correlated
Overlapping between receptive fields occurs

Ganglion cell receptive fields: detection of contrast

- On-center GCs are most stimulated (*) by central
illumination & darkness in
the surround
-Off-center GCs are most stimulated (*) by surround illumination & darkness in
the center
*change in the light received -> change in the action potentials being fired at the ganglia.
- Ganglia sees many receptive fields from different polar cells, gets complicated.

Somatosensory Perception

Receptor types (2)

1. Cutaneous (skin) Rs
Touch/pressure Rs
Hot/cold Rs
Nociceptors (pain Rs)
Examples
Free nerve endings light touch; hot; cold; nocireception
Merkels discs sustained touch and pressure
Ruffini corpuscles sustained pressure
Meissners corpuscles changes in texture; slow vibration
Pacinian corpuscles deep pressure; fast vibrations

2. Proprioceptors (joint/movement)
Muscle spindles
Golgi tendon organs
Joint Rs

The Eye

Cornea

Where light gets refracted, or bent

Responsible for fine tuning of our images

Thin transparent layer that covers the eye

Iris

Gives the eye color

The part of the eye that contracts or dilates to regulate the amount of light passing
through the pupil
Pupil

Empty so like can pour through

Lens
Retina

Peripheral vision

Sensitive to light levels but low acuity

Fovea

Focused vision

Low light sensitivity but high acuity

Optic Nerve
Vitreous Humor

The Eye

Inversion & reversal

of the visual field

The light is upside down and

switched left/right

Know what is
ipsilateral or
contralateral

Autonomic Control of Pupil

Diameter
Radial muscles
stimulated via
1-adrenergic
receptors

Circular muscles
stimulated via
muscarinic
receptors

The Visual System

Photoreceptor cells are G-protein Coupled Receptors (GPCR

PRCs). Retina transduce electromagnetic energy, in the form of
photons
Two types of PRCs

RODS

Dim-light vision
Greater sensitivity to light
The light receptor is called Rhodopsin

CONES

Color vision
Greater visual acuity; incoming light rays encounter fewer obstacles (less
cell layers and/or cellular processes)
The light receptors are called Photopsins

Anatomy of
the Retina

Pigmented epithelium

Homeostasis of PRCs

Visual cycle of retinal; constant shedding of pigmented epithelium

PRCs (rods & cones) sit at the back of the retina
Bipolar cells (BPCs) receive input from PRCs
Ganglion cells receive input from BPCs

Bipolar cells

Rods to ganglion cells

Cones to ganglion cells

Interneurons mediate lateral information flow

Horizontal cells

Connects rods and cones to each other

Amacrine cells

Ganglion to ganglion
Information flow

Hits ganglion axons first, then neuronal cell bodies, through bipolar
bodies, then cell bodies of photoreceptor cells
Phototransduction goes In opposite direction, back up to ganglions

Thalamic neurons
Cortical neurons

Occipital lobe (contains visual map)

FIGURE 10.36

Visual Transduction in the Retina

Rods & cones share many key

elements of phototransduction
Photoreceptors: GPCRs

Outer segment contains stacks of

Rhodopsin in rods
Photopsins in cones
Photopigment is retinal

Photoreceptors convert photons

into G-protein (transducin)

Dark Current

PRCs are depolarized in dark

PRCs are hyperpolarized in light
Dark current is a positive inward
(depolarizing) current

FIGURE 10.37

Phototransduction in a Rod

1. (photon) activates Rhodopsin

2. Rhodopsin activates Gt (transducin)
3. G(GTP) activates cGMP-dependent phosphodiesterase (PDE)
4. PDE decreases [cGMP]i
5. Decreased [cGMP]i closes Na+ channels
6. Decreased Na+ influx hyperpolarizes the rod cell
7. Hyperpolarization means decreased neurotransmitter (glutamate) release
at PRC/BPC synapse to inhibitory receptor
8. Decreased NT binding to the inhibitory metabotropic receptor on BPC
means the nerve terminal on the opposite side of the BPC releases more
excitatory NT to the LGIC on the ganglion cell
Pink = retinal

Common to cones and rods

(photopsin/rhodopsin)

When light hits it, it transforms to all

trans and then is no longer bound

The Chemical Senses:

Gustation & Olfaction
TASTE

Sensory receptors

Taste buds
Gustatory/taste cells (specialized epithelia; perform the sensory transduction)
Supporting cell

Five submodalities
Salty
+
+
Na ion through LGIC causing depolarization, opens Ca2 channels, releases
neurotransmitter
Sour
+
+
H ion through LGIC causing depolarization, opens Ca2 channels, releases
neurotransmitter
Sweet and Umami
nd messenger closes K+ channels, depolarization,
Sugars bind to GPCRs, 2
releases neurotransmitter
Bitter
nd messenger induces Ca + release from endoplasmic
Quinine bind to GPCRs, 2
2
reticulum, depolarization, releases neurotransmitter
One sensory neuron per taste submodality

Taste Cells

FIGURE 10.8

The Chemical Senses:

Gustation & Olfaction
SMELL

Sensory cells are bipolar neurons intercalated among olfactory epithelia

Each sensory neuron has one type of receptor
Dendritic cilia contain odorant Rs (GPCR);
odorant binds
G-protein dissociates
Binds Adenylate cyclase
Activates CAMP
Binds to channel
+
+
Opens a Ca2 /Na channel (both flow in)
Depolarization excites bipolar neuron
Axonal end of the bipolar neuron synapses at glomeruli in the olfactory
bulb
These neurons, with the help of the interneurons tuft and mitral, send
information to prefrontal cortex
Smell and taste have in common: all chemoreceptors

Auditory System

Sense of sound
Ear is the sensory organ
Auditory transduction occurs in the cochlea of the inner ear
Auditory receptor cells are hair cells

Hair Cells
Pitch (frequency of sound waves)
encoded by location of stimulated
hair cells in cochlea. Specific
location determines the pitch. Just
like motor maps, a pitch map exists
Loudness (intensity of sound
waves) encoded by degree of
bending of hair bundle
determines frequency of action
potential
The stereo cilia are connected at
the tip, which is key to AP
frequency

Potassium, as opposed to Na, moves in and depolarizes it. This

is due to unique concentration in the ear. K+ moves with its
electrochemical gradient

Ears and Shit

Ears
Outer Ear
Consists of the auricle and auditory canal
Collects longitudinal sound waves and channels them to the tympanic
membrane, which is the beginning of the middle ear
Middle Ear
Has the tympanic membrane, which vibrates back and forth due to the
vibrations from the outer membrane, and pushes the ossicles back and forth
Ossicles (also in middle ear):
1. Malleus
2. Incus
3. Stapes
The ossicles transmit information to the oval window of the fluid-filled inner
ear
The ossicles use a reduced surface area to amplify the force from the
tympanic membrane twenty fold
The muscles tensor tympani and stapedius insert onto the ossicles during
loud explosions to protect the inner ear

Ears and Shit

Ears

Inner ear

Contains the oval window, as well as the:

1. Cochlea

contains hair cells

The vibration of the ossicles on the oval window causes fluid waves in the inner ear that
depolarize the hair cells of the cochlea

Hair cells: are responsible for the transduction mechanism that generates an electrical
signal the nervous system can interpret

The action potentials from the hair cells travel to the auditory nerve to the brain
2. Semicircular canals

The semicircular canals are important for balance; 3 semicircular canals exist in each
ear

1. X Plane (3)

2. Y Plane (4)

3. Z Plane (2)

Endolymph

Fluid in the semicircular canals

Movement of endolymph in the canals puts pressure on the hair cells inside

Perilymph

Present in the scala vestibula and scala tympani

Difference in concentration gradients between this and endolymph is crucial for

generating electrical signals

Ears and Shit

Ears

Ears and Shit

Ears