Mrs.

Lucelle Valencia
The Special Senses
• Chemical senses
• Taste (gustation)
• Smell (olfaction)
• Vision
• The ear
• Hearing
• Equilibrium

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 re: Touch

The sense of touch is part

of the General somatic
senses____

This chapter deals with the Special

category of the two left sensory boxes 3
 TASTE
• Taste buds: mostly on tongue
• Two types
• Fungiform papillae (small, on entire surface of tongue)
• Circumvallate papillae (inverted “V” near back of tongue)

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• Taste buds of 50-100
epithelial cells each
• Taste receptor cells
(gustatory cells)
• Microvilli through pore,
bathed in saliva
• Disolved molecules bind &
induce receptor cells to
generate impulses in sensory
nerve fibers

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• Types of taste
• Sweet
• Sour
• Salty
• Bitter
• Glutamate (MSG)
• Gustatory (taste) pathway to brainstem & cerebral
cortex via two cranial nerves:
• VII (Facial n.) – anterior 2/3 of tongue
• IX (Glossopharyngeal n.) – posterior 1/3 tongue and
pharynx

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 Olfactory epithelium in roof of nasal cavity
• Pseudostratified columnar epithelium
Smell • Has millions of bipolar neurons = olfactory receptor cells
Only neurons undergoing replacement throughout adult life
Olfactory cilia bind odor molecules
(olfaction) • Mucus captures & dissolves odor molecules
Each receptor cell has an axon - are bundled into “filaments” of olfactory
nerve
• Penetrate cribriform plate of ethmoid bone & enter olfactory bulb

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 • Olfactory bulb is in forebrain
• In bulb nerve axons branch and synapse with mitral
cells (neurons in clusters of “glomeruli”)
• Mitral cells send signals via olfactory tract

Olfactory bulb__
*
___Filaments of Olfactory nerve (CN I)

_______Olfactory tract
*

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• 1000 types of smell receptors (approx.)
• Convergence of many receptor cell signals onto one
glomerulus registers a signature pattern
• Brain recognizes the pattern: sent to unclus (olfactory
center) and limbic area

Anosmia: absence of the sense of smell

• Trauma
• Colds or allergies producing excessive mucus
• Polyps causing blockage
• 1/3 are from zinc deficiency

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The Eye and Vision
• Vision is the dominant sense in humans
• 70% of sensory receptors in humans are in the eyes
• 40% of the cerebral cortex is involved in processing
visual information
• The eye (or eyeball) is the visual organ
• Diameter 2.5 cm (1 inch)
• Only anterior 1/6 visible
• Lies in bony orbit
• Surrounded by a protective cushion of fat

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 Accessory structures of the eye
• Eyebrows
• Eyelids or palpebrae
• Upper & lower separated by palpebral fissure
• Corners: medial & lateral canthi
• Eyelashes

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• Eyelid tarsal plates give structure
• Where orbicularis oculi muscles attach (close eyes)
• Levator palpebrae superioris muscle
• Lifts upper lid voluntarily (inserts on tarsal plate)

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• Tarsal glands – modified
sebaceous (oil) glands in
tarsal plates
• Conjunctiva - transparent
mucus membrane of
stratified columnar
epithelium
• Palpebral conjunctiva
• Bulbar conjunctiva
• Covers white of eye but not the
cornea (transparent tissue over
the iris and pupil)

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Lacrimal apparatus
• Responsible for tears
• The fluid has mucus,
antibodies and lysozyme
• Lacrimal gland in orbit
superolateral to eye
• Tears pass out through
puncta into canaliculi into
sac into nasolacrimal duct
• Empty into nasal cavity
(sniffles)

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Extraocular (extrinsic) eye muscles: 6 in # “EOMs intact” means
they all work right

• Four are rectus muscles (straight)

• Originate from common tendinous or anular ring, at
posterior point of orbit
• Two are oblique: superior and inferior

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 Extraocular (extrinsic) eye muscles
Cranial nerve innervations:
• Lateral rectus: VI (Abducens n.) – abducts eye outward
• Medial, superior, inferior rectus & inf oblique: III (Oculomotor n.) –
able to look up and in if all work
• Superior oblique: IV (Trochlear n.) – moves eye down and out

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Innervation

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• Double vision: diplopia (what the patient experiences)
• Eyes do not look at the same point in the visual field
• Misalignment: strabismus (what is observed when shine a light: not
reflected in the same place on both eyes) – can be a cause of diplopia
• Cross eyed
• Gaze & movements not conjugate (together)
• Medial or lateral, fixed or not
• Many causes
• Weakness or paralysis of extrinsic muscle of eye
• Surgical correction necessary
• Oculomotor nerve problem, other problems
• Lazy eye: amblyopia
• Cover/uncover test at 5 yo
• If don’t patch good eye by 6, brain ignores lazy eye and visual pathway
degenerates: eye functionally blind

NOTE: some neurological development and connections have a window of

time - need stimuli to develop, or ability lost 19
 3 Layers form the external wall of the eye
1. (outer) Fibrous: dense connective tissue
• Sclera – white of the eye
• Cornea
• 100s of sheets of collagen fibers between sheets of
epithelium and endothelium
• Clear because regular alignment
• Role in light bending
• Avascular but does have pain receptors
• Regenerates
2. (middle) Vascular: uvea
• Choroid – posterior, pigmented
• Ciliary body
• Iris (colored part: see next slide)
3. (inner) Sensory
• Retina and optic nerve
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1. (outer layer) Fibrous: dense
connective tissue
• Sclera – white of the eye
• Cornea
2. (middle) Vascular: uvea
• Choroid – posterior, pigmented
• Ciliary body
• Muscles – control lens shape
• Processes – secrete aqueous
humor
• Zonule (attaches lens)
• Iris
3. (inner layer) Sensory
• Retina and optic nerve

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 Layers of external wall of eye continued
1. (outer) Fibrous: dense connective tissue
• Sclera – white of the eye
• Cornea
2. (middle) Vascular: uvea
• Choroid – posterior, pigmented
• Ciliary body
• Iris
Pigmented put incomplete: pupil lets in light
Sphincter of pupil: circularly arranged smooth muscle - parasympathetic
control
for bright light and/or close vision
Dilator of pupil: radiating smooth muscle – sympathetic control
for dim light and/or distance vision
3. (inner) Sensory
• Retina

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Layers of external wall of eye continued

1. (outer) Fibrous: dense connective tissue

• Sclera – white of the eye
• Cornea
2. (middle) Vascular: uvea
• Choroid – posterior, pigmented
• Ciliary body
• Iris
3. (inner) Sensory
• Retina -------will cover after the chambers and lens

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some pictures…

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Chambers and fluids
(see previous pics)

• Vitreous humor in posterior segment

• Jellylike
• Forms in embryo and lasts life-time
• Anterior segment filled with aqueous humor – liquid,
replaced continuously
• Anterior chamber between cornea and iris
• Posterior chamber between iris and lens
• Glaucoma when problem with drainage resulting in
increased intraocular pressure

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Lens: thick, transparent biconvex disc

• Changes shape for precise focusing of light on retina

• Onion-like avascular fibers, increase through life
• Cataract if becomes clouded

Note lens below, Cataract below: the lens is milky

but in life it is clear and opaque, not the cornea

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Cataract (opaque lens)

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