Definition: Sensory cells are cells which detect information (such as sounds, light, touch, smell, taste, and temperature) through receptors on their surface. This information travels through nerves from the sensory cells to the brain.

Sensory receptors that share a common location often share a related function. Sensory receptors code four aspects of a stimulus: modality (or type), intensity, location, and duration. Cutaneous touch receptors and muscle spindle receptors are both mechanoreceptors, but they differ in location.

Sensory neurons

As front-liners in closest proximity to the stimuli, sensory cells allow the organism to respond appropriately to such stimulus as light, sound, taste, temperature, and pressure among others.

For example, sensory neurons send information from the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin to the brain. Motor neurons carry messages away from the brain to the rest of the body.

Ruffini endings detect stretch, deformation within joints, and warmth. Pacinian corpuscles detect transient pressure and high-frequency vibration. Krause end bulbs detect cold.

Touch, Thermoception, and Noiception. A number of receptors are distributed throughout the skin to respond to various touch-related stimuli (Figure 1). These receptors include Meissner’s corpuscles, Pacinian corpuscles, Merkel’s disks, and Ruffini corpuscles.

nociceptors

The sensory receptors in the skin are:

• cutaneous mechanoreceptors. Ruffini’s end organ (skin stretch) End-bulbs of Krause (Cold) Meissner’s corpuscle (changes in texture, slow vibrations) Pacinian corpuscle (deep pressure, fast vibrations)
• thermoreceptor.
• nociceptors.
• chemoreceptors.