Somatosensory System

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-XI

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2. Introduction

   • Yngve Zotterman

   Pages 1-1

3. Morphology of Cutaneous Receptors

   • Karl H. Andres, Monika von Düring

   Pages 3-28

4. Cutaneous Mechanoreceptors and Nociceptors

   • P. R. Burgess, E. R. Perl

   Pages 29-78

5. Cutaneous Thermoreceptors

   • Herbert Hensel

   Pages 79-110

6. Joint Receptors and Kinaesthesis

   • Sten Skoglund

   Pages 111-136

7. The Concept of Relay Nuclei

   • George Gordon

   Pages 137-150

8. Control of the Access of Afferent Activity to Somatosensory Pathways

   • Robert F. Schmidt

   Pages 151-206

9. Distribution and Connections of Afferent Fibres in the Spinal Cord

   • M. Réthelyi, J. Szentágothai

   Pages 207-252

10. Dorsal Horn Electrophysiology

    • Patrick D. Wall

    Pages 253-270

11. The Trigeminal System

    • Ian Darian-Smith

    Pages 271-314

12. Ascending and Long Spinal Pathways: Dorsal Columns, Spinocervical Tract and Spinothalamic Tract

    • A. G. Brown

    Pages 315-338

13. Functional Organization of Spinocerebellar Paths

    • Olov Oscarsson

    Pages 339-380

14. Reticular Formation

    • Ottavio Pompeiano

    Pages 381-488

15. Convergent Thalamic and Cortical Projections — The Non-Specific System

    • Denise Albe-Fessard, J. M. Besson

    Pages 489-560

16. Electrical Recording from the Thalamus in Human Subjects

    • J. A. V. Bates

    Pages 561-578

17. Anatomical Organization of the Somatosensory Cortex

    • E. G. Jones, T. P. S. Powell

    Pages 579-620

18. Functional Organization of the Somatosensory Cortex

    • Gerhard Werner, Barry L. Whitsel

    Pages 621-700

19. Somatosensory Cortex: Descending Influences on Ascending Systems

    • Arnold L. Towe

    Pages 701-718

20. Somesthetic Effects of Damage to the Central Nervous System

    • Josephine Semmes

    Pages 719-742

The waterproof sensory sheet covering the mammalian body has a rich afferent innervation which provides an abundance of complex information for use by the central nervous system often in conjunction with information from receptors in the joints. This book is an attempt to provide a systematic account of the way in which this somatosensory system works. The properties of the peripheral receptors have been debated in scientific terms for about a century and the resolu­ tion of the conflict in favour of the existence of 'specific' receptors for mechanical, thermal and noxious stimuli is reported and discussed in the opening chapters of the book. An awareness of this specificity has forced a re-consideration of the ways in which the central nervous system de-codes the information which is showered upon it. Advances in knowledge of the fine structure of the central nervous system have raised functional questions about the operation and organisation of the sensory systems in the spinal cord and brain. Fresh insight into the morphological complexity of the dorsal horn and higher levels of the nervous system gives the physiologist a clearer idea of the units with which he works. Progress has been made in understanding the function of sensory relay nuclei in general and indivi­ dual tracts in particular and is fully decomented.

• Sinnesphysiologie
• brain
• central nervous system
• complexity
• joint
• nervous system
• organizations
• physiology
• spinal cord

• Laboratoire de Neurophysiologie Generale, Paris-16e, France

  D. Albe-Fessard

• Institut für Anatomie II, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 463 Bochum, West Germany

  K. H. Andres, M. Düring

• Medical Research Council, The National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, London, W.C.1., Great Britain

  J. A. V. Bates

• Faculté des Sciences, Université de Paris, Paris-16e, France

  J. M. Besson

• Department of Veterinary Physiology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Great Britain

  A. G. Brown

• Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA

  P. R. Burgess

• Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, The John Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA

  I. Darian-Smith

• University Laboratory of Physiology, University Museum, Oxford, Great Britain

  G. Gordon

• Physiologisches Institut der Universität, West Germany

  H. Hensel

• Department of Anatomy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

  E. Jones

• Mt. Zion Neurological Institute, Mt. Zion Hospital, San Francisco, USA

  B. Libet

• Department of Physiology, University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco, USA

  B. Libet

• Institute of Physiology, University of Lund, Lund, Sweden

  O. Oscarsson

• Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA

  E. R. Perl

• Istituto di Fisiologia Umana, Cattedra II, Universita di Pisa, Pisa, Italy

  O. Pompeiano

• Department of Human Anatomy, University of Oxford, Oxford, Great Britain

  T. P. S. Powell

• 1st Department of Anatomy, Semmelweis University Medical School, Budapest IX, Hungary

  M. Réthelyi, J. Szentágothai

• Physiologisches Institut der Universität Kiel, 23 Kiel, West Germany

  R. F. Schmidt

• Section on Perception, Laboratory of Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, USA

  J. Semmes

• Stockholm, Sweden

  S. Skoglund

• Department of Physiology & Biophysics, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, USA

  A. L. Towe

• Department of Anatomy, University College London, London, W.C.I., Great Britain

  P. D. Wall

• Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, USA

  G. Werner, B. L. Whitsel

• Kungl Veterinärhögskolan, Stockholm 50, Sweden

  Y. Zotterman

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