Question

Describe and explain the changes in electrical activity both in receptor and in the sensory neurone as increasing pressure is applied to the Pacinian corpuscle?

Answer 1

Pacinian corpuscles are rapidly adapting mechanoreceptors so they respond only at the onset and offset of the stimulus. The Pacinian corpuscle has a single afferent nerve fiber. Its end is covered by a sensitive receptor membrane whose sodium channels will open when the membrane is deformed in any way. Pressure thus causes sodium to enter the neuron and create a generator potential. If this potential reaches a certain threshold nerve impulses are formed. This impulse is now transferred along the axon with the use of sodium channels and sodium/potassium pumps in the axon membrane. The magnitude of the stimulus is encoded in the frequency of impulses generated in the neuron. So the more massive or rapid the deformation of a single corpuscle, the higher the frequency of nerve impulses generated in its neuron.