Autism spectrum disorders

Mouse study suggests autism is not just a disease of the brain

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are characterized by impaired social interactions and repetitive behaviors, often accompanied by abnormal reactions to sensory stimuli. ASD is generally thought to be caused by deficits in ...

Neuroscience

How does the brain learn by talking to itself?

Humans, like other animals, possess an enormous learning capacity that allows for the apprehension of new sensory information to master new skills or to adapt to an ever-changing environment. However, many of the mechanisms ...

Neuroscience

Study explains why patients with shingles feel pain

In most cases, chickenpox is a benign childhood infection with symptoms that disappear within 10 days. However, the Varicella zoster virus (VZV) that causes it remains dormant in the patient forever. In some cases, the virus ...

Neuroscience

Biomedical engineer finds how brain encodes sounds

When you are out in the woods and hear a cracking sound, your brain needs to process quickly whether the sound is coming from, say, a bear or a chipmunk. In new research published in PLoS Biology, a biomedical engineer at ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Why does coronavirus make people lose their sense of smell?

To begin with, it was just anecdotal reports. Ear, nose and throat specialists from around the world were sharing their experiences on online message boards—they were all seeing a spike in patients experiencing anosmia, ...

Inflammatory disorders

Study reveals nervous system's role in asthma attacks

(Medical Xpress)—Asthma is a debilitating condition that kills 250,000 people around the world each year. People with asthma have hyperreactive airways and thickened lung walls obstructed with mucus. During an asthma attack, ...

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Sensory neuron

Sensory neurons are neurons that are activated by sensory input (vision, touch, hearing, etc.), and send projections into the central nervous system that convey sensory information to the brain or spinal cord. Unlike neurons of the central nervous system, whose inputs come from other neurons, sensory neurons are activated by physical modalities such as light, sound, temperature, chemical stimulation, etc.

In complex organisms, sensory neurons relay their information to the central nervous system or in less complex organisms, such as the hydra, directly to motor neurons and sensory neurons also transmit information (electrical impulses) to the brain, where it can be further processed and acted upon. For example, olfactory sensory neurons make synapses with neurons of the olfactory bulb, where the sense of olfaction (smell) is processed.

At the molecular level, sensory receptors located on the cell membrane of sensory neurons are responsible for the conversion of stimuli into electrical impulses. The type of receptor employed by a given sensory neuron determines the type of stimulus it will be sensitive to. For example, neurons containing mechanoreceptors are sensitive to tactile stimuli, while olfactory receptors make a cell sensitive to odors.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA