Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Responses of cat corneal sensory receptors to mechanical and thermal stimulation.

Responses of cat corneal sensory receptors to mechanical and thermal stimulation. 1. The afferent responses evoked by mechanical and thermal stimulation of the cat cornea were recorded extracellularly from strands of long and mixed ciliary nerves under deep anaesthesia. 94% of the units studied (n = 53) responded consistently to both stimuli. 2. Conduction velocities, measured by electrical stimulation of the receptive field, corresponded to the lower range of the A‐delta fibre group (average = 5.4 m/sec). Receptive fields covered approximately a quadrant of the corneal surface and showed continuous sensitivity and overlapping. Units were silent in the absence of stimulation but an ongoing activity was commonly present after repeated mechanical and thermal stimulation. 3. Mechanical responses were evoked at low thresholds and consisted of a dynamic and static response that paralleled the amplitude of the stimulus. The pattern of the discharge was irregular and fatigue was easily developed by repeated stimulation. 4. Thresholds to heating were above 38 degrees C and the response increased monotonically with the temperature over the range from threshold to 50 degrees C. The heat response could be sensitized by repeated long suprathreshold stimulation while variable changes in the response were induced by briefer stimuli. Also depression was observed in some circumstances. A weak response to cooling was present in 50% of the units tested. 5. Damaging mechanical stimulation or the application of a strong acid solution evoked a vigorous response followed by an earlier discharge that persisted for hours. 6. The relation of these receptors to other polymodal nociceptors and corneal sensation is considered. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png The Journal of Physiology Wiley

Responses of cat corneal sensory receptors to mechanical and thermal stimulation.

Belmonte, C; Giraldez, F
The Journal of Physiology , Volume 321 (1) – Jan 1, 1981
Download PDF
14 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/wiley/responses-of-cat-corneal-sensory-receptors-to-mechanical-and-thermal-Sx5yiS0Fhn

References (0)

References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.

Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
© 2014 The Physiological Society
ISSN
0022-3751
eISSN
1469-7793
DOI
10.1113/jphysiol.1981.sp013989
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

1. The afferent responses evoked by mechanical and thermal stimulation of the cat cornea were recorded extracellularly from strands of long and mixed ciliary nerves under deep anaesthesia. 94% of the units studied (n = 53) responded consistently to both stimuli. 2. Conduction velocities, measured by electrical stimulation of the receptive field, corresponded to the lower range of the A‐delta fibre group (average = 5.4 m/sec). Receptive fields covered approximately a quadrant of the corneal surface and showed continuous sensitivity and overlapping. Units were silent in the absence of stimulation but an ongoing activity was commonly present after repeated mechanical and thermal stimulation. 3. Mechanical responses were evoked at low thresholds and consisted of a dynamic and static response that paralleled the amplitude of the stimulus. The pattern of the discharge was irregular and fatigue was easily developed by repeated stimulation. 4. Thresholds to heating were above 38 degrees C and the response increased monotonically with the temperature over the range from threshold to 50 degrees C. The heat response could be sensitized by repeated long suprathreshold stimulation while variable changes in the response were induced by briefer stimuli. Also depression was observed in some circumstances. A weak response to cooling was present in 50% of the units tested. 5. Damaging mechanical stimulation or the application of a strong acid solution evoked a vigorous response followed by an earlier discharge that persisted for hours. 6. The relation of these receptors to other polymodal nociceptors and corneal sensation is considered.

Journal

The Journal of Physiology – Wiley

Published: Jan 1, 1981

There are no references for this article.