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Related Concept Videos

Somatosensation01:33

Somatosensation

The somatosensory system relays sensory information from the skin, mucous membranes, limbs, and joints. Somatosensation is more familiarly known as the sense of touch. A typical somatosensory pathway includes three types of long neurons: primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary neurons have cell bodies located near the spinal cord in groups of neurons called dorsal root ganglia. The sensory neurons of ganglia innervate designated areas of skin called dermatomes.
What is a Sensory System?01:31

What is a Sensory System?

Sensory systems detect stimuli—such as light and sound waves—and transduce them into neural signals that can be interpreted by the nervous system. In addition to external stimuli detected by the senses, some sensory systems detect internal stimuli—such as the proprioceptors in muscles and tendons that send feedback about limb position.
Sensory Perception: Organization of the Somatosensory System01:11

Sensory Perception: Organization of the Somatosensory System

The somatosensory system is the central and peripheral nervous system component that senses and processes touch, pressure, pain, temperature, and body position or proprioception. The process of sensation takes place at three levels:
The receptor level:
The receptor level is the first stage of sensation. It involves the detection of a stimulus by specialized sensory receptors. The stimulus must arrive within the receptor's receptive field. Next, the receptor converts the energy of the stimulus...
Overview of Somatic Sensory Pathways01:29

Overview of Somatic Sensory Pathways

Somatic sensory or somatosensory pathways refer to the neural pathways that carry information related to touch, pressure, pain, temperature, and proprioception from the skin, muscles, tendons, and joints to the brain. These pathways involve several stages of processing and integration of sensory information.
The somatosensory system is divided into three main pathways: the dorsal (or posterior) column-medial lemniscus, spinothalamic (or anterolateral), and spinocerebellar pathways.
The dorsal...
Introduction to Special Senses01:26

Introduction to Special Senses

Sensory receptors play an integral part in comprehending our external and internal environments. They receive diverse stimuli, converting them into the nervous system's electrochemical signals. This conversion occurs as the stimulus alters the sensory neuron's cell membrane potential, instigating the generation of an action potential. This action potential is subsequently transmitted to the central nervous system (CNS), which integrates with other sensory data or higher cognitive functions.
Diversity in Cell Signaling Responses01:22

Diversity in Cell Signaling Responses

The physiological function of a cell and cellular communication are outcomes of a range of extrinsic signals, intracellular signaling pathways, and cellular responses. No two cell types express the same repertoire of signaling components. Receptors are highly selective for their cognate ligands, but once activated, they can alter multiple cellular processes such as DNA transcription, protein synthesis, and metabolic activity. 
Graded and Abrupt Responses
Some signaling systems generate...

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Automated Multimodal Stimulation and Simultaneous Neuronal Recording from Multiple Small Organisms
08:28

Automated Multimodal Stimulation and Simultaneous Neuronal Recording from Multiple Small Organisms

Published on: March 3, 2023

Evolution of a polymodal sensory response network.

Jagan Srinivasan1, Omer Durak, Paul W Sternberg

  • 1Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology, 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA. jsrini@caltech.edu

BMC Biology
|December 17, 2008
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Nematode species conserve the ASH neuron for avoiding harmful stimuli, but some species dynamically recruit additional neurons for enhanced sensory responses. This highlights evolutionary flexibility in conserved avoidance behaviors.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Sensory Biology

Background:

  • Avoidance of noxious stimuli is crucial for survival, with polymodal sensory neurons detecting diverse threats and unimodal neurons sensing specific ones.
  • Nematodes, inhabiting varied environments, possess small nervous systems, suggesting cellular conservation in behavioral responses.
  • The ASH neuron in Caenorhabditis elegans mediates avoidance of multiple noxious stimuli, a function also observed in some parasitic nematodes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the conservation and variation of avoidance behaviors across six free-living nematode species.
  • To compare the cellular mechanisms underlying polymodal nociception in diverse nematode species.
  • To understand the evolutionary dynamics of sensory neuron contributions to avoidance.

Main Methods:

  • Comparative behavioral analysis of chemo-, mechano-, and osmosensory avoidance.
  • Laser microsurgery to ablate specific sensory neurons, including the ASH neuron.
  • Identification of putative ASH neurons based on anatomical positioning across species.

Main Results:

  • All six nematode species exhibited avoidance of chemical, mechanical, and osmotic stimuli.
  • Ablation of ASH neurons impaired noxious stimulus avoidance in all tested species.
  • Pristionchus pacificus utilized both ASH and ADL neurons for osmosensation, while Caenorhabditis sp. 3 used only ASH for nose touch avoidance, indicating species-specific recruitment of non-ASH neurons.

Conclusions:

  • ASH-mediated polymodal nociception is an evolutionarily conserved and stable sensory feature.
  • The cellular networks underlying even conserved sensory behaviors are dynamic, with species-specific adaptations in neuronal contributions.
  • Evolutionary pressures shape sensory response networks, allowing for flexibility in environmental adaptation.