Touch - The Skin - Receptors



The Skin Sense of Touch Receptor Endings > Receptors < Nerves Hygiene Burn Wounds Dermatology Allergy Julian Thomas Fun	Sensory Receptors The skin contains numerous sensory receptors which receive information from the outside environment. The sensory receptors of the skin are concerned with at least five different senses: pain, heat, cold, touch, and pressure. The five are usually grouped together as the single sense of touch in the classification of the five senses of the whole human body. The sensory receptors vary greatly in terms of structure. For example, while pain receptors are simply unmyelinated terminal branches of neurons, touch receptors form neuronal fiber nets around the base of hairs and deep pressure receptors consist of nerve endings encapsulated by specialized connective tissues. Receptors also vary in terms of abundance relative to each other. For example, there are far more pain receptors than cold receptors in the body. Finally, receptors vary in terms of the concentration of their distribution over the surface of the body, the fingertips having far more touch receptors than the skin of the back. Nerve fibers that are attached to different types of skin receptors either continue to discharge during a stimulus "slowly-adapting" or respond only when the stimulus starts and sometimes when a stimulus ends "rapidly-adapting". In other words, slowly-adapting nerve fibers send information about ongoing stimulation; rapidly-adapting nerve fibers send information related to changing stimuli. The Pacinian corpuscle receptor is a classic example of a rapidly-adapting type receptor. The Ruffini nerve ending is a slowly-adapting type receptor.
"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart."

Sensory Receptors