AnaPhy 8-Special Senses

Chapter 8
Special Senses
Lecture Presentation by
Patty Bostwick-Taylor
Florence-Darlington Technical College
© 2018 Pearson Education, Inc.

Special Senses
 Special senses include:

 Smell
 Taste
 Sight
 Hearing
 Equilibrium
 Special sense receptors
 Large, complex sensory organs
 Localized clusters of receptors

Part I: The Eye and Vision
 70 percent of all sensory receptors are in the
eyes
 Each eye has over 1 million nerve fibers carrying
information to the brain
 Accessory structures include the:

 Extrinsic eye muscles
 Eyelids
 Conjunctiva
 Lacrimal apparatus

Figure 8.1 Surface anatomy of the eye and accessory structures.
Site where Eyebrow

conjunctiva
Eyelid
merges with
cornea Eyelashes
Palpebral Pupil
fissure Lacrimal
caruncle
Lateral Medial
commissure commissure
(canthus) (canthus)
Iris Sclera
(covered by
Eyelid conjunctiva)

External and Accessory Structures
 Eyelids
 Meet at the medial and lateral commissure (canthus)
 Eyelashes
 Tarsal glands produce an oily secretion that lubricates
the eye
 Ciliary glands are located between the eyelashes
 Conjunctiva
 Membrane that lines the eyelids and eyeball
 Connects with the transparent cornea
 Secretes mucus to lubricate the eye and keep it moist

 Lacrimal apparatus = lacrimal gland + ducts
 Lacrimal gland—produces lacrimal fluid (tears);
situated on lateral end of each eye
 Tears drain across the eye into the lacrimal canaliculi,
then the lacrimal sac, and into the nasolacrimal duct,
which empties into the nasal cavity
 Tears contain:
 Dilute salt solution
 Mucus
 Antibodies
 Lysozyme (enzyme that destroys bacteria)
 Function of tears
 Cleanse, protect, moisten, lubricate the eye
Figure 8.2a Accessory structures of the eye.
Lacrimal Excretory duct

gland of lacrimal gland
Conjunctiva
Anterior
aspect
Eyelid
Eyelashes
Tarsal
glands
(a) Eyelid

Figure 8.2b Accessory structures of the eye.
Lacrimal Lacrimal sac

gland
Excretory ducts
of lacrimal gland
Lacrimal canaliculus
Nasolacrimal duct
Inferior meatus
of nasal cavity
Nostril
(b)
 Extrinsic eye muscles
 Six muscles attach to the outer surface of the eye
 Produce gross eye movements

Figure 8.3a Extrinsic muscles of the eye.
Superior
oblique muscle
Superior
oblique tendon
Superior
rectus muscle
Conjunctiva
Lateral rectus
muscle
Optic Inferior Inferior

nerve rectus oblique
(a) muscle muscle
Figure 8.3b Extrinsic muscles of the eye.
Trochlea
Superior
oblique muscle
Superior
oblique tendon
Axis at
Superior
center of
rectus muscle
eye
Inferior
rectus muscle
Medial
rectus muscle
Lateral
rectus muscle
Common
(b) tendinous ring
Internal Structures: The Eyeball
 Three layers, or tunics, form the wall of the

eyeball
 Fibrous layer: outside layer
 Vascular layer: middle layer
 Sensory layer: inside layer
 Humors are fluids that fill the interior of the
eyeball
 Lens divides the eye into two chambers

Figure 8.4a Internal anatomy of the eye (sagittal section).
Sclera
Ciliary body Choroid
Ciliary zonule Retina
Cornea
Fovea centralis
Iris
Pupil
Optic nerve
Aqueous
humor
(in anterior
segment)
Lens
Scleral venous sinus Central artery
(canal of Schlemm) and vein of
Vitreous humor the retina
(in posterior segment) Optic disc
(blind spot)
(a)

Figure 8.4b Internal anatomy of the eye (sagittal section).
Ciliary body Vitreous humor

in posterior
segment
Iris
Margin Retina
of pupil Choroid
Sclera
Aqueous humor
Fovea centralis
(in anterior
segment) Optic disc
Lens Optic nerve
Cornea
Ciliary zonule
(b)

 Fibrous layer = sclera + cornea

 Sclera
 White connective tissue layer
 Seen anteriorly as the “white of the eye”
 Cornea
 Transparent, central anterior portion
 Allows for light to pass through
 Repairs itself easily
 The only human tissue that can be transplanted without
fear of rejection

 Vascular layer
 Choroid is a blood-rich nutritive layer that contains a
pigment (prevents light from scattering)
 Choroid is modified anteriorly into two smooth muscle
structures
 Ciliary body
 Iris—regulates amount of light entering eye
 Pigmented layer that gives eye color
 Pupil—rounded opening in the iris

 Sensory layer
 Retina contains two layers
1. Outer pigmented layer absorbs light and prevents it
from scattering
2. Inner neural layer contains receptor cells
(photoreceptors)
 Rods
 Cones

Figure 8.5a The three major types of neurons composing the retina.
Pigmented
layer of retina
Rod
Cone
Bipolar
cells
Ganglion Pathway
cells of light
(a)

Figure 8.5b The three major types of neurons composing the retina.
Pigmented
layer of Neural layer
retina of retina
Central
artery
and vein
of retina
Optic disc
Sclera
Optic
(b) nerve Choroid
 Sensory layer (continued)

 Electrical signals pass from photoreceptors via a two-
neuron chain
 Bipolar neurons
 Ganglion cells
 Signals leave the retina toward the brain through the
optic nerve
 Optic disc (blind spot) is where the optic nerve leaves
the eyeball
 Cannot see images focused on the optic disc

 Sensory layer (continued)
 Rods
 Most are found toward the edges of the retina
 Allow vision in dim light and peripheral vision
 All perception is in gray tones
 Cones
 Allow for detailed color vision
 Densest in the center of the retina
 Fovea centralis–lateral to blind spot
 Area of the retina with only cones
 Visual acuity (sharpest vision) is here
 No photoreceptor cells are at the optic disc, or blind
spot
 Sensory layer
(continued)
 Cone sensitivity
 Three types of cones
 Each cone type is
sensitive to different
wavelengths of
visible light

 Lens
 Flexible, biconvex crystal-like structure
 Held in place by a suspensory ligament attached to the
ciliary body
 Lens divides the eye into two chambers

1. Anterior (aqueous) segment
 Anterior to the lens
 Contains aqueous humor, a clear, watery fluid
2. Posterior (vitreous) segment
 Posterior to the lens
 Contains vitreous humor, a gel-like substance

 Aqueous humor
 Watery fluid found between lens and cornea
 Similar to blood plasma
 Helps maintain intraocular pressure
 Provides nutrients for the lens and cornea
 Reabsorbed into venous blood through the scleral
venous sinus, or canal of Schlemm
 Vitreous humor
 Gel-like substance posterior to the lens
 Prevents the eye from collapsing
 Helps maintain intraocular pressure

 Ophthalmoscope
 Instrument used to illuminate the interior of the eyeball
and fundus (posterior wall)
 Can detect diabetes, arteriosclerosis, degeneration of
the optic nerve and retina

Physiology of Vision
 Pathway of light through the eye and light

refraction
 Light must be focused to a point on the retina for
optimal vision
 Light is bent, or refracted, by the cornea, aqueous
humor, lens, and vitreous humor
 The eye is set for distant vision (over 20 feet away)
 Accommodation—the lens must change shape to
focus on closer objects (less than 20 feet away)

Figure 8.8 Relative convexity of the lens during focusing for distant and close vision.
Retina
Light from distant source Focal point

(a)
Light from near source Focal point

Retina
(b)
 Pathway of light through the eye and light
refraction (continued)
 Image formed on the retina is a real image
 Real images are:
 Reversed from left to right
 Upside down
 Smaller than the object
 Summary of the pathway
of impulses from the
retina to the point of
visual interpretation
1. Optic nerve
2. Optic chiasma
3. Optic tract
4. Thalamus
5. Optic radiation
6. Optic cortex in occipital
lobe of brain

A Closer Look
 Emmetropia – eye focuses images correctly on
the retina
 Myopia (nearsightedness)
 Distant objects appear blurry
 Light from those objects fails to reach the retina and
are focused in front of it
 Results from an eyeball that is too long
 Hyperopia (farsightedness)
 Near objects are blurry, whereas distant objects are
clear
 Distant objects are focused behind the retina
 Results from an eyeball that is too short or from a “lazy
lens”
A Closer Look
 Astigmatism
 Images are blurry
 Results from light focusing as lines, not points, on the
retina because of unequal curvatures of the cornea or
lens

A Closer Look 8.2 Bringing Things into Focus.
Focal Correction
plane
None required
Concave lens
(a) Emmetropic eye
(b) Myopic eye

(nearsighted) Convex lens
(c) Hyperopic eye

(farsighted)

 Eye reflexes
 Convergence: reflexive movement of the eyes medially
when we focus on a close object
 Photopupillary reflex: bright light causes pupils to
constrict
 Accommodation pupillary reflex: viewing close objects
causes pupils to constrict

Part II: The Ear: Hearing and Balance
 Ear houses two senses

1. Hearing
2. Equilibrium (balance)
 Receptors are mechanoreceptors
 Different organs house receptors for each sense
 The ear is divided into three areas
1. External (outer) ear
2. Middle ear
3. Internal (inner) ear

Figure 8.11 Anatomy of the ear.
External (outer) ear Middle ear
Internal (inner) ear
Vestibulocochlear
nerve
Auricle
(pinna) Semicircular
canals
Oval window
Cochlea
Vestibule
Round window
Pharyngotympanic
(auditory) tube
Tympanic
membrane
(eardrum) Hammer Anvil Stirrup
(malleus) (incus) (stapes)
External acoustic
meatus Auditory ossicles
(auditory canal)
Anatomy of the Ear
 External (outer) ear

 Auricle (pinna)
 External acoustic meatus (auditory canal)
 Narrow chamber in the temporal bone
 Lined with skin and ceruminous (earwax) glands
 Ends at the tympanic membrane (eardrum)
 External ear is involved only in collecting sound waves

Anatomy of the Ear
 Middle ear cavity (tympanic cavity)

 Air-filled, mucosa-lined cavity within the temporal bone
 Involved only in the sense of hearing
 Located between tympanic membrane and oval
window and round window
 Pharyngotympanic tube (auditory tube)
 Links middle ear cavity with the throat
 Equalizes pressure in the middle ear cavity so the
eardrum can vibrate

Anatomy of the Ear
 Middle ear cavity (tympanic cavity) (continued)

 Three bones (ossicles) span the cavity
1. Malleus (hammer)
2. Incus (anvil)
3. Stapes (stirrup)
 Function
 Transmit vibrations from tympanic membrane to the
fluids of the inner ear
 Vibrations travel from the hammer → anvil → stirrup →
oval window of inner ear

Anatomy of the Ear
 Internal (inner) ear

 Includes sense organs for hearing and balance
 Bony labyrinth (osseous labyrinth) consists of:
 Cochlea
 Vestibule
 Semicircular canals
 Bony labyrinth is filled with perilymph
 Membranous labyrinth is suspended in perilymph and
contains endolymph

Equilibrium
 Equilibrium receptors of the inner ear are called

the vestibular apparatus
 Vestibular apparatus has two functional parts
1. Static equilibrium
2. Dynamic equilibrium

Static Equilibrium
 Maculae—receptors in the vestibule

 Report on the position of the head
 Help us keep our head erect
 Send information via the vestibular nerve (division of
cranial nerve VIII) to the cerebellum of the brain
 Anatomy of the maculae
 Hair cells are embedded in the otolithic membrane
 Otoliths (tiny stones) float in a gel around hair cells
 Movements cause otoliths to roll and bend hair cells

Figure 8.12a Structure and function of maculae (static equilibrium receptors).
Membranes in vestibule
Otoliths
Otolithic
membrane
Hair tuft
Hair cell
Supporting cell
Nerve fibers of
vestibular division
(a) of cranial nerve VIII
Figure 8.12b Structure and function of maculae (static equilibrium receptors).
Force of
Otolithic Otoliths gravity
membrane
Hair cell
Head upright Head tilted

(b)
Dynamic Equilibrium
 Crista ampullaris
 Responds to angular or rotational movements of the
head
 Located in the ampulla of each semicircular canal
 Tuft of hair cells covered with cupula (gelatinous cap)
 If the head moves, the cupula drags against the
endolymph
 Hair cells are stimulated, and the impulse travels the
vestibular nerve to the cerebellum

Figure 8.13a Structure and function of the crista ampullaris (dynamic equilibrium receptor region).
Semicircular
canals
Ampulla
Vestibular
nerve
Vestibule
(a)

Figure 8.13b Structure and function of the crista ampullaris (dynamic equilibrium receptor region).
Ampulla
Endolymph
Cupula of crista
(b) ampullaris

Figure 8.13c Structure and function of the crista ampullaris (dynamic equilibrium receptor region).
Flow of
endolymph
Cupula
Nerve
fibers
Direction of body
(c) movement
Hearing
 Spiral organ of Corti

 Located within the cochlear duct
 Receptors = hair cells on the basilar membrane
 Gel-like tectorial membrane is capable of bending hair
cells
 Cochlear nerve attached to hair cells transmits nerve
impulses to auditory cortex on temporal lobe

Figure 8.14a Anatomy of the cochlea.
Temporal Perilymph in scala vestibuli

bone
Spiral Vestibular
organ of membrane
Corti
Afferent fibers
of the cochlear
nerve
Temporal
bone
Cochlear
duct (contains Perilymph in
endolymph) scala tympani
(a)
Figure 8.14b Anatomy of the cochlea.
Vestibular
Hair (receptor) Tectorial membrane
cells of spiral membrane
organ of Corti
Fibers of
Basilar Supporting the cochlear
membrane cells nerve
(b)

Hearing
 Pathway of vibrations from sound waves

 Move by the ossicles from the eardrum to the oval
window
 Sound is amplified by the ossicles
 Pressure waves cause vibrations in the basilar
membrane in the spiral organ of Corti
 Hair cells of the tectorial membrane are bent when the
basilar membrane vibrates against it
 An action potential starts in the cochlear nerve (cranial
nerve VIII), and the impulse travels to the temporal
lobe

Hearing
 High-pitched sounds disturb the short, stiff fibers
of the basilar membrane
 Receptor cells close to the oval window are stimulated
 Low-pitched sounds disturb the long, floppy fibers
of the basilar membrane
 Specific hair cells further along the cochlea are
affected

Part III: Chemical Senses: Smell and Taste
 Chemoreceptors
 Stimulated by chemicals in solution
 Taste has five types of receptors
 Smell can differentiate a wider range of chemicals
 Both senses complement each other and respond
to many of the same stimuli

Olfactory Receptors and the Sense of Smell
 Olfactory receptors are in roof of nasal cavity

 Olfactory receptor cells (neurons) with long cilia known
as olfactory hairs detect chemicals
 Chemicals must be dissolved in mucus for detection
by chemoreceptors called olfactory receptors
 Impulses are transmitted via the olfactory
filaments to the olfactory nerve (cranial nerve I)
 Smells are interpreted in the olfactory cortex

Figure 8.17 Location and cellular makeup of the olfactory epithelium.
Olfactory bulb
Cribriform plate
of ethmoid bone
Olfactory tract
Olfactory filaments of
the olfactory nerve
Supporting cell
Olfactory Olfactory receptor
mucosa cell
Olfactory hairs
Mucus layer
(a) (cilia)
Route of inhaled air
containing odor molecules
(b)

Taste Buds and the Sense of Taste
 Taste buds house the receptor organs
 Locations of taste buds
 Most are on the tongue
 Soft palate
 Superior part of the pharynx
 Cheeks
 The tongue is covered with projections called
papillae that contain taste buds
 Vallate (circumvallate) papillae
 Fungiform papillae
 Filiform papillae

Figure 8.18a Location and structure of taste buds.
Epiglottis
Palatine tonsil
Lingual tonsil
Foliate
papillae
Fungiform
papillae
(a)
Figure 8.18b Location and structure of taste buds.
Vallate papilla
Taste buds
(b)

 Gustatory cells are the taste receptors

 Possess gustatory hairs (long microvilli)
 Gustatory hairs protrude through a taste pore
 Hairs are stimulated by chemicals dissolved in saliva

Figure 8.18c Location and structure of taste buds.
Epithelium of tongue
Taste bud
Connective
tissue
Surface of
the tongue Gustatory
(taste) cell
Basal
cell
Sensory
nerve
fiber
Gustatory hairs
(microvilli) emerging
from a taste pore
(c)
 Impulses are carried to the gustatory complex by

several cranial nerves because taste buds are
found in different areas
 Facial nerve (cranial nerve VII)
 Glossopharyngeal nerve (cranial nerve IX)
 Vagus nerve (cranial nerve X)
 Taste buds are replaced frequently by basal cells

 Five basic taste sensations

 Sweet receptors respond to sugars, saccharine, some
amino acids
 Sour receptors respond to H+ ions or acids
 Bitter receptors respond to alkaloids
 Salty receptors respond to metal ions
 Umami receptors respond to the amino acid glutamate
or the beefy taste of meat

Part IV: Developmental Aspects of the
Special Senses
 Special sense organs are formed early in
embryonic development
 Maternal infections during the first 5 or 6 weeks of
pregnancy may cause visual abnormalities as
well as sensorineural deafness in the developing
child

Special Senses
 Vision requires the most learning
 The infant has poor visual acuity (is farsighted)
and lacks color vision and depth perception at
birth
 The eye continues to grow and mature until age
8 or 9

Special Senses
 Age-related eye issues
 Presbyopia—“old vision” results from decreasing lens
elasticity that accompanies aging
 Causes difficulty to focus for close vision
 Lacrimal glands become less active
 Lens becomes discolored
 Dilator muscles of iris become less efficient, causing
pupils to remain constricted

Special Senses
 The newborn infant can hear sounds, but initial
responses are reflexive
 By the toddler stage, the child is listening critically
and beginning to imitate sounds as language
development begins
 Age-related ear problems
 Presbycusis—type of sensorineural deafness that may
result from otosclerosis
 Otosclerosis—ear ossicles fuse
 Congenital ear problems usually result from missing
pinnas and closed or missing external acoustic meatuses

Special Senses
 Taste and smell are most acute at birth and
decrease in sensitivity after age 40 as the number
of olfactory and gustatory receptors decreases

AnaPhy 8-Special Senses

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Chapter 8

© 2018 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Special senses include:

© 2018 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Accessory structures include the:

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Site where Eyebrow

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© 2018 Pearson Education, Inc.

Lacrimal Excretory duct

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Lacrimal Lacrimal sac

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Optic Inferior Inferior

 Three layers, or tunics, form the wall of the

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© 2018 Pearson Education, Inc.

Ciliary body Vitreous humor

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 Fibrous layer = sclera + cornea

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© 2018 Pearson Education, Inc.

© 2018 Pearson Education, Inc.

© 2018 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Sensory layer (continued)

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© 2018 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Lens divides the eye into two chambers

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© 2018 Pearson Education, Inc.

© 2018 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Pathway of light through the eye and light

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Light from distant source Focal point

Light from near source Focal point

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© 2018 Pearson Education, Inc.

(b) Myopic eye

(c) Hyperopic eye

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© 2018 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Ear houses two senses

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Internal (inner) ear

 External (outer) ear

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 Middle ear cavity (tympanic cavity)

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 Middle ear cavity (tympanic cavity) (continued)

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 Internal (inner) ear

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 Equilibrium receptors of the inner ear are called

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 Maculae—receptors in the vestibule

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Head upright Head tilted

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© 2018 Pearson Education, Inc.

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 Spiral organ of Corti

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Temporal Perilymph in scala vestibuli

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