Author: Devecıoğlu İsmaıl Güçlü Burak
Publisher: Informa Healthcare
ISSN: 1369-1651
Source: Somatosensory & Motor Research, Vol.30, Iss.1, 2013-03, pp. : 16-29
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Abstract
Previous histological and neurophysiological studies have shown that the innervation density of rapidly adapting (RA) mechanoreceptive fibers increases towards the fingertip. Since the psychophysical detection threshold depends on the contribution of several RA fibers, a high innervation density would imply lower thresholds. However, our previous human study showed that psychophysical detection thresholds for the Non-Pacinian I channel mediated by RA fibers do not improve towards the fingertip. By recording single-unit spike activity from rat RA fibers, here we tested the hypothesis that the responsiveness of RA fibers is asymmetric in the proximo-distal axis which may counterbalance the effects of innervation density. RA fibers (