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Related Concept Videos

Sensory Functions of the Skin01:16

Sensory Functions of the Skin

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The skin is the largest organ of the human body and plays a crucial role in our sensory perception. It contains a vast network of sensory receptors that contribute to the skin's protective function by perceiving physical, biological, and environmental cues and generating relevant responses.
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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.
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The contraction strength of muscles is regulated by motor neurons, which modulate the frequency of action potentials dispatched to the motor units based on the body's requirements. This process of varying the muscle stimulation frequency allows muscles to contract with a force that is precisely tailored to the needs of the moment, whether lifting a feather or a heavy box.
Wave summation
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The action potential is a complex electrical event that occurs in excitable cells, such as neurons and muscle cells. It consists of several distinct phases, each with specific characteristics.
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Local anesthetics (LAs) block the sodium channels of nerve trunks, sensory nerve endings, and neuromuscular junctions. Although LAs can block all kinds of nerves, the sensitivity of nerve fibers differs according to nerve types and structures. LAs are known to block myelinated fibers faster than unmyelinated ones. Also, they block pain or sensory neurons at low concentrations without affecting the motor neurons involved in muscle contractions. This helps relieve labor pain without affecting the...
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Cutaneous sensation of electrical stimulation waveforms.

Gavin Hsu1, Forouzan Farahani1, Lucas C Parra1

  • 1Department of Biomedical Engineering, The City College of New York, CUNY, 160 Convent Avenue, New York, NY, USA.

Brain Stimulation
|April 13, 2021
PubMed
Summary

Exploring new electrical stimulation waveforms for transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) found that conventional direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) waveforms minimize skin sensation, potentially allowing for higher intensities.

Keywords:
Cutaneous discomfortSensationWaveformtACStDCS

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Electrophysiology

Background:

  • Skin sensation is a key limitation for increasing transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) intensity.
  • Existing tES research has utilized a limited range of waveforms, hindering optimization.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if alternative stimulation waveforms can reduce skin sensation during tES.
  • To determine if reduced sensation allows for higher stimulation intensities.

Main Methods:

  • Systematic testing of various waveforms in human adults via forearm and head stimulation.
  • Quantitative sensory rating on a numerical scale from "none" to "extreme".

Main Results:

  • High-frequency monophasic square waves showed reduced sensation with increased duty cycle, baseline, and frequency, but not below constant current.
  • For alternating current (AC), sensation decreased with higher frequencies.
  • Biphasic sinusoidal waveforms had lower sensation than biphasic square waveforms.
  • Direct current (DC) stimulation on the arm yielded sensation levels comparable to head stimulation.

Conclusions:

  • Conventional direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) waveforms appear to offer the lowest skin sensation levels for transcutaneous electrical stimulation.
  • Findings are likely applicable to transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) applications, suggesting a path to higher intensities.