Knowra Nociceptor Nociceptor A sensory neuron or nerve ending that responds to potentially tissue-damaging mechanical, thermal, or chemical stimuli. Its activity initiates nociception, the neural encoding of actual or threatened injury.
Nociception : The neural process of encoding and processing actual or threatened tissue damage. Nociceptors provide the peripheral sensory input that begins this broader process.
Sensory neuron : A neuron that detects information about the body or environment and transmits it to the nervous system. Nociceptors are specialized sensory neurons or their peripheral endings.
Hyperalgesia : An increased pain response to a stimulus that normally produces pain. Sensitized nociceptors can contribute to exaggerated responses after injury or inflammation.
Pain : An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage. Nociceptor activity can contribute to pain, but it is neither identical to pain nor required for every pain experience.
Transient receptor potential channel : A family of ion channels that detect chemical, thermal, and mechanical signals in sensory cells. Several TRP channels transduce heat, irritants, or other harmful stimuli at nociceptive endings.
Free nerve ending : An unencapsulated branching terminal of a sensory neuron in tissue. Many nociceptors detect stimuli through free endings in skin and other tissues.
Allodynia : Pain caused by a stimulus that does not normally provoke pain. Altered nociceptive processing can make normally harmless touch painful.
Phantom limb : The perception that an amputated or missing limb remains present, sometimes with pain. Phantom limb pain shows that pain can persist without nociceptors in the missing limb.
Voltage-gated sodium channel : A membrane protein that generates and propagates action potentials by allowing sodium ions into cells. These channels carry nociceptor action potentials toward the spinal cord.
Mechanoreceptor : A sensory receptor that responds to physical deformation such as pressure, vibration, or stretch. Unlike ordinary mechanoreceptors, nociceptors respond to mechanical forces capable of threatening tissue.
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