Chapter 12

Nervous System III: Senses

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 • Introduction to Sensory Function
Senses maintain homeostasis, by providing information about the outside world
and the internal environment
Sensory receptors collect information from the environment, and relay it to the
CNS on sensory neurons
Sensory receptors link nervous system to internal and external changes or
events
Sensory receptors can be specialized cells or multicellular structures
General senses:
• Receptors that are widely distributed throughout the body.
• Skin, various organs and joints.

Special senses:
• Specialized receptors confined to structures in the head.
• Eyes, ears, nose and mouth.

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 • Receptors, Sensation, and Perception
Sensory receptors:
• Respond to specific stimuli
• Particularly sensitive to a certain type of environmental change, and less
sensitive to other stimuli

Sensation:
• A feeling that occurs when brain becomes aware of sensory information.

Perception:
• The way the brain interprets the sensory information.

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 • Receptor Types
5 types of sensory receptors in the body:
Chemoreceptors:
• Respond to changes in chemical concentrations (smell, taste, oxygen
concentration).

Pain receptors (nociceptors):

• Respond to tissue damage (mechanical, electrical, thermal energy).

Thermoreceptors:
• Respond to moderate changes in temperature.

Mechanoreceptors:
• Respond to mechanical forces that distort receptor (touch, tension, blood
pressure, stretch).

Photoreceptors:
• Respond to light (eyes).
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 • Sensory Impulses
• Sensory receptors can take the form of ends of neurons or cells near
extensions of the neurons.
• Stimulation of receptor causes local change in its membrane potential,
causing graded potential according to stimulus intensity.
• If receptor is part of a neuron, the membrane potential may generate an
action potential.
• If receptor is not part of a neuron, the receptor potential must be
transferred to a neuron to trigger an action potential.
• Peripheral nerves transmit impulses to CNS where they are analyzed and
interpreted in the brain.

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 • Sensation and Perception
Sensation: occurs when action potentials make the brain aware of a
sensory event (such as pain).
Perception: occurs when brain interprets sensory impulses (realizing that
the pain is a result of stepping on a tack).

Projection:
• Process in which cerebral cortex interprets sensation as being derived from
certain receptors.
• Brain projects the sensation back to the apparent source.
• It allows a person to pinpoint the region of stimulation.

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 • Table 12.1 Information Flow from the
Environment Through the Nervous System
Information Flow Smell Taste Sight Hearing
Sensory receptors Olfactory receptor Taste bud receptor Rods and Hair cells in cochlea
cells cells cones in retina

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
Impulse in sensory Olfactory nerve Sensory fibers in Optic nerve Auditory nerve
fibers fibers various cranial nerves fibers fibers
↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
Impulse reaches Cerebral cortex Cerebral cortex Midbrain and Midbrain and
CNS cerebral cortex cerebral cortex

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
Sensation (new A pleasant smell A sweet taste A small, round, A crunching sound
experience, red object
recalled memory)
↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
Perception The smell of an The taste of an apple The sight of an The sound of biting
apple apple into an apple

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 • Sensory Adaptation
Sensory Adaptation:
• Ability to ignore unimportant (or continuous) stimuli.
• Involves a decreased response to a particular stimulus from the receptors
(peripheral adaptation) or along the CNS pathways leading to the cerebral
cortex (central adaptation).
• When sensory adaptation occurs, sensory impulses become less frequent
and may cease.
• Stronger stimulus is then required to trigger impulses.
• Best accomplished by thermoreceptors and olfactory receptors.
• Receptors adapt differently
• Smell and taste adapt rapidly
• Proprioception adapts slowly
• Pain receptors do not adapt

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 • General Senses
General Senses:
Senses with small, widespread sensory receptors, associated with skin, muscles,
joints and viscera

General Senses are divided into 3 groups:

• Exteroceptive senses:
Senses associated with body surface, such as touch, pressure, temperature,
and pain.
• Interoceptive (visceroceptive) senses:
Senses associated with changes in the viscera, such as blood pressure
stretching blood vessels.
• Proprioceptive senses:
Senses associated with changes in muscles, tendons, and joints, as when
changing position or exercising.

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 • Touch and Pressure Senses
3 types of mechanoreceptors respond to touch and pressure:
Free nerve endings:
• Common in epithelial tissues.
• Simplest receptors.
• Sense itching and other sensations.
Tactile (Meissner’s) corpuscles:
• Abundant in hairless portions of skin and lips.
• Detect fine touch and texture.
• Distinguish between 2 points.
Lamellated (Pacinian) corpuscles:
• Nerve endings encased in large ellipsoidal structures.
• Common in deeper subcutaneous tissues, tendons and ligaments.
• Detect heavy pressure and vibrations.

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 • Figure 12.1 Touch and Pressure Receptors

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 • Temperature Senses
Temperature receptors (thermoreceptors):
Free nerve endings in skin; 2 types:
1. Warm receptors:
• Sensitive to temperatures above 25 degrees celsius (77 degrees
fahrenheit).
• Unresponsive to temperature above 45 degrees celsius (113 degrees
fahrenheit).
2. Cold receptors:
• Sensitive to temperatures between 10 degrees celsius (50 degrees
fahrenheit) and 20 degrees celsius (68 degrees fahrenheit).
Pain receptors:
• Respond to temperatures below 10 degrees celsius; produce freezing
sensation.
• Respond to temperatures above 45 degrees celsius; produce burning
sensation.

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 • Sense of Pain
• Pain receptors/nociceptors consist of free nerve endings.
• Widely distributed.
• Nervous tissue of brain lacks pain receptors.
• Stimulated by tissue damage, chemicals, mechanical forces,
or extremes in temperature.
• Adapt very little, if at all.

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 • Visceral Pain
• Pain receptors are the only receptors in viscera whose stimulation
produces sensations.
• Pain receptors in viscera respond differently to stimulation than those of
surface tissues.
• Visceral pain may feel as if coming from some other part of the body; this
is called referred pain.
• Example of referred pain: Heart pain often feels like it is coming from the
left shoulder or medial portion of left arm.
• Referred pain results from common nerve pathways, in which sensory
impulses from the visceral organ and a certain area of the skin synapse
with the same neuron in the CNS.

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 • Figure 12.2 Referred Pain
Referred pain may occur due to sensory impulses from two regions following
a common nerve pathway to brain:

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 • Figure 12.3 Referred Pain

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 • Pain Pathways
2 types of axons/fibers that conduct impulses away from pain receptors:
1. Fast pain (A-delta) fibers:
• Myelinated.
• Conduct impulses rapidly (up to 30 m/sec).
• Associated with sharp (acute) pain in localized skin area.
• Usually stops as soon as stimulus stops.
2. Slow pain (C) fibers:
• Unmyelinated.
• Conduct impulses slowly (up to 2 m/sec).
• Associated with dull, aching (chronic) pain.
• Difficult to localize.
• Pain often continues after stimulus stops.
In the brain, most pain fibers synapse in reticular formation, and proceed to the
thalamus, hypothalamus, and cerebral cortex.
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 • Regulation of Pain Pathways
Thalamus:
• Begins sensation of pain.
Cerebral cortex:
• Judges intensity of pain.
• Locates source of pain.
• Produces emotional and motor responses to pain.
• The emotional response to pain involves the limbic system.

Gray matter in brainstem:

• Regulates flow of impulses from spinal cord.

Pain-inhibiting substances produced in the body:

• Enkephalins.
• Serotonin.
• Endorphin.

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 • Clinical Application 12.1
Treating Pain
About 25% of people have moderate or severe pain. Treatments for pain:
• Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as aspirin, ibuprofen:
can cause GI irritation
• Opiates: can be addicting.
• Acetaminophen: non-addicting, no GI irritation, but can damage liver.

Reformulation efforts are producing smaller particles, that dissolve faster and
relieve pain faster.
Chronic pain treatments:
NSAIDs, exercises, injection of anesthetics into cramping muscles,
antidepressants, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), invasive
nerve block.

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 • Proprioception
Proprioceptors:
Mechanoreceptors that send information to CNS about body position,
and length and tension of skeletal muscles.
Main types of proprioceptors:
Lamellated (Pacinian) corpuscles:
• Pressure receptors in joints.

Muscle spindles:
• Stretch receptors in skeletal muscles.
• Initiate stretch reflexes, in which spindle stretch causes muscle contraction.

Golgi tendon organs:

• Stretch receptors in tendons.
• Stimulate reflexes that oppose stretch reflexes.
Help maintain posture, and protect muscle attachments from being
pulled loose.
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 • Figure 12.4 Stretch Receptors

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 • Visceral Senses
• Visceral senses have receptors in internal organs.
• Examples of visceral receptors: lamellated corpuscles, free nerve endings.
• Convey information that includes the sense of fullness after eating a meal
as well as the discomfort of intestinal gas and the pain that signals a heart
attack.

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 • Table 12.2 Receptors Associated with General
Senses
Type Function Sensation
Free nerve endings (mechanoreceptors) Detect changes in pressure Touch, pressure

Tactile corpuscles (mechanoreceptors) Detect objects moving over the Touch, texture
skin

Lamellated corpuscles (mechanoreceptors) Detect changes in pressure Deep pressure, vibrations,

fullness in viscera

Free nerve endings (thermoreceptors) Detect changes in temperature Heat, cold

Free nerve endings (pain receptors) Detect tissue damage Pain

Free nerve endings (mechanoreceptors) Detect stretching of tissues, tissue Visceral pain
spasms

Muscle spindles (mechanoreceptors) Detect changes in muscle length None

Golgi tendon organs (mechanoreceptors) Detect changes in muscle tension None

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 • Special Senses
Special Senses:
Senses that have sensory receptors are within large, complex sensory organs
in the head:
• Smell: olfactory organs in nasal cavity.
• Taste: taste buds in oral cavity.
• Hearing and equilibrium: inner ears.
• Sight: eyes.

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 • Clinical Application 12.2
Synesthesia
Synesthesia (joined sensation):
• Condition in which brain interprets a stimulus for one sense as coming
from another.
• Example: “The paint smelled blue”.
• 1 in 2,000 people have this condition, and it lasts a lifetime.
• Common in creative people.
• Caused by genetic mutation; 4 genes have been identified.

Most common form is grapheme-color type synesthesia:

• Letters, numbers or time evoke certain colors.

Lexical-gustatory synesthesia:
• A name evokes perception of strong taste or smell.

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 • Sense of Smell
Olfaction: the sense of smell.
Olfactory receptors:
• Olfactory receptor cells are chemoreceptors.
• Respond to chemicals dissolved in liquids.
• Sense of smell provides 75-80% of sense of taste.

Olfactory organs:
• Contain olfactory receptor cells (bipolar neurons) and supporting
epithelial cells.
• These neurons have knobs at the distal ends of their dendrites covered
with cilia.
• Cover upper parts of nasal cavity, superior nasal conchae, and a portion
of the nasal septum.
• Odorants may bind to any of almost 400 types of olfactory membrane
receptors, resulting in depolarization and action potentials.

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 • Figure 12.5 Olfactory Receptors

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 • Olfactory Pathways
• Once olfactory receptors are stimulated, nerve impulses travel through
openings in cribriform plates of ethmoid bone.
• Olfactory receptor cells → olfactory bulbs → olfactory tracts → limbic
system (for emotions) and olfactory cortex (for interpretation).
• Limbic system, center for memory and emotion, provides emotional
responses to certain odorant molecules.

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 • Olfactory Stimulation
Leading hypothesis for encoding specific smells:
• Each olfactory receptor cell contains only 1 type of membrane protein.
• Each type of membrane protein can bind several types of odorants.
• Brain interprets binding as an olfactory code.
• Olfactory organs located high in the nasal cavity, above the pathway of
inhaled air.
• Olfactory receptors undergo sensory adaptation rapidly.
• Sense of smell drops by 50% within 1 second after stimulation.
• Olfactory receptor neurons are the only ones in direct contact with
environment, and can be damaged.
• Receptors are replaced regularly (very unusual for neurons to be replaced
in the human adult).

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 • Gustation: Sense of Taste
Gustation is the sense of taste.
Taste buds:
• Organs of taste.
• Located on papillae of tongue, roof of mouth, linings of cheeks and walls of
pharynx.
• About 10,000 taste buds, each with 50-150 taste cells.

Taste receptors:
• Chemoreceptors.
• Taste cells: modified epithelial cells that function as receptors.
• Taste hairs: microvilli that protrude from taste cells through pores of taste
buds; sensitive parts of taste cells.
• Taste cells are replaced every 3 days.

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 • Figure 12.7 Taste Receptors

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 • Taste Sensations
5 primary taste sensations:
• Sweet: stimulated by carbohydrates.
• Sour: stimulated by acids  H  .
• Salty: stimulated by salts  Na or K   .
• Bitter: stimulated by many organic compounds, Mg and Ca salts.
• Umami: stimulated by some amino acids, MSG.

Each flavor results from 1 primary taste sensation or a combination.

Spicy foods may stimulate a class of pain receptors.
Taste receptors undergo rapid adaptation.

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 • Taste Pathways
Sensory impulses from taste receptor cells travel on fibers of 3 different
cranial nerves, according to the location of the taste cells:
• Facial nerve (VII).
• Glossopharyngeal nerve (IX).
• Vagus nerve (X).

Cranial nerves conduct impulses into medulla oblongata.

Impulses then proceed to the thalamus.
Impulses are interpreted in the gustatory cortex in the insula.

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 • Clinical Application 12.3
Smell and Taste Disorders
• Disorders of smell and taste can be caused by colds, flu, allergies, nasal
polyps, swollen mucous membranes in the nose, head injury, toxic
chemical exposure, nutritional or metabolic problem, a disease.
• Often, cause cannot be identified.
• Drugs and medications can also alter smell or taste.

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 • Sense of Hearing
Ear: Organ of hearing
3 sections of the ear:
• Outer/external ear.
• Middle ear.
• Inner/internal ear.

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 • Figure 12.9a Outer (External) Ear
Parts of the Outer Ear:
Auricle (Pinna):
• Funnel-shaped.
• Collects sounds waves.

External acoustic meatus:

• S-shaped tube.
• Lined with ceruminous glands.
• Carries sound to tympanic
membrane.
• Terminates at tympanic membrane.

Tympanic membrane (Eardrum):

• Vibrates in response to sound waves.

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 • External Ear

Auricle
Tragus

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 • Figure 12.9 Middle Ear
Parts of the Middle Ear:
Tympanic cavity:
• Air-filled space in temporal bone.
Auditory ossicles:
• 3 tiny bones.
• Vibrate in response to tympanic membrane
vibrations; amplify force.
• Malleus, incus and stapes.
• Hammer, anvil and stirrup.

Oval window:
• Opening in wall of tympanic cavit.
• Stapes vibrates against it to move fluids
in inner ear.

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 • Figure 12.10 Middle Ear: Tympanic
Reflex
Tympanic Reflex:
• Muscle contractions that occur during loud sounds, to lessen the transfer
of sound vibrations to inner ear, and prevent damage to hearing receptors.
• Muscles involved are tensor tympani and stapedius.

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 • Figure 12.9a Middle Ear: Auditory Tube
Auditory (eustachian) tube:
• Connects middle ear to throat.
• Helps maintain equal pressure on both sides of tympanic membrane.
• Usually closed by valve-like flaps in throat.

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 • Figure 12.11a Inner (Internal) Ear
Inner ear is a complex system of labyrinths:
Osseous (bony) labyrinth:
• Bony canal in temporal bone.
• Filled with perilymph fluid.

Membranous labyrinth:
• Tube of similar shape that lies
within osseous labyrinth.
• Filled with endolymph fluid.

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 • Figure 12.11a Inner Ear
3 parts of labyrinths:
Cochlea:
• Functions in hearing.

Semicircular canals:
• Function in dynamic equilibrium.

Vestibule:
• Functions in static equilibrium.

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 • Figure 12.11b Cochlea
Cochlea:
• Spiral, snail-shaped tube.
• Widest at its base and progressively narrower towards its tip.

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 • Figure 12.10 Windows of the Inner Ear
There are 2 membrane-covered “windows” in the wall of the bony
labyrinth:
• Oval window:
Opening in the wall of the tympanic cavity,
through which the stapes transfers
vibrations to the fluid of the inner ear;
these vibrations stimulate hearing
receptors.
• Round window:
Window in the wall of the inner ear facing
the tympanic cavity, through which excess
vibrations dissipate into the tympanic cavity.

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 • Figure 12.12 Cochlea
The cochlea contains 3 compartments:
Scala vestibuli:
• Upper compartment.
• Leads from oval window
to apex of spiral.
• Part of bony labyrinth.
Scala tympani:
• Lower compartment.
• Extends from apex of the cochlea
to round window.
• Part of bony labyrinth.
Cochlear duct:
• Middle compartment.
• Portion of membranous labyrinth in cochlea.
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 • Figure 12.13 Cochlea
The cochlea contains these
membranes:
Vestibular membrane:
Separates scala vestibule from cochlear duct.

Basilar membrane:
Separates cochlear duct from scala tympani.

Tectorial membrane:
Extends partially into cochlear duct; part of
the hearing receptor organ, the Spiral Organ.

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 • Clinical Application 12.4
Getting a Cochlear Implant
• Hearing aids amplify sound, but cochlear implants directly stimulate
auditory nerve.
• Enables a person to hear certain sounds.
• Best time is before age 3, as brain is rapidly processing speech and hearing.

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 • Spiral Organ (Organ of Corti)
Spiral Organ:
• Organ for sense of hearing.
• Sits on upper surface of basilar membrane.
• Contains hearing receptor cells, called hair cells.
• Hair cells contain stereovilli (or stereocilia).
• Tectorial membrane passes like a roof over the hair cell stereovilli.
• Sound vibrations cause stereocilia to contact and bend against the tectorial
membrane.
• Different frequencies of vibration move different parts of basilar
membrane.
• Nerve impulses are generated.

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 • Figure 12.13 Spiral Organ (Organ of
Corti)

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 • Figure 12.14 Spiral Organ (Organ of
Corti)

Sound reception occurs as the basilar membrane vibrates, vibrating the hair
cells of the spiral organ, and putting them in contact with the tectorial
membrane.

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 • Figure 12.15 Spiral Organ (Organ of
Corti)

This is a “straightened out” view of the cochlea. Receptor cells in different

regions of the cochlear duct detect different frequencies of vibration
(cycles/sec or cps).

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 • Table 12.4 Steps in the Generation of Sensory
Impulses from the Ear
Table 12.4 Steps in the Generation of Sensory Impulses from the Ear
1. Sound waves enter the external acoustic meatus.
2. Sound waves cause the tympanic membrane to reproduce the vibrations coming from
the sound-wave source.
3. Auditory ossicles amplify and transfer vibrations to the end of the stapes.
4. Movement of the stapes at the oval window transfers vibrations to the perilymph in the
scala vestibuli.
5. Vibrations pass through the vestibular membrane and enter the endolymph of the
cochlear duct.
6. Different frequencies of vibration in endolymph move specific regions of the
7. A receptor cell depolarizes; its membrane becomes more permeable to calcium ions.
8. In the presence of calcium ions, vesicles at the base of the receptor cell release
neurotransmitter.
9. Neurotransmitter stimulates nearby sensory neurons.
10. Sensory impulses are conducted along fibers of the cochlear branch of the
vestibulocochlear nerve.
11. The auditory cortex of the temporal lobe interprets the sensory impulses.

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 • Clinical Application 12.5
Hearing Loss
• About 8% of people have some decree of hearing loss.
• 2 major types of hearing loss: Conductive and Sensorineural.
Conductive Deafness:
• Interference with conduction of sound vibrations to inner ear.
• 95% of cases of hearing loss.
• Caused by accumulation of ear wax, hardening or injury of tympanic membrane, injury
to auditory ossicles, otosclerosis.
• Diagnostic tests: Rinne test and Weber test.
Sensorineural Deafness:
• Damage to cochlea, auditory (vestibulocochlear) nerve, or nerve pathways.
• Can be caused by long-term exposure to very loud sounds, such as factory noise, loud
music, explosions.
• Also caused by CNS tumors, brain damage resulting from a stroke, use of certain drugs.

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 • Sense of Equilibrium
Feeling of equilibrium/balance is derived from 2 senses:
Static equilibrium:
• Senses position of head when body is not moving.
• Receptors are found in vestibule of inner ear.

Dynamic Equilibrium:
• Senses rotation and movement of head and body.
• Receptors are found in semicircular canals.

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 • Figure 12.17 Static Equilibrium
• Utricle and saccule are expanded chambers of the membranous labyrinth
of the vestibule.
• Each contains a Macula, an organ of static equilibrium.
• A macula is a patch of hair cells and supporting cells.

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 • Figure 12.18 Static Equilibrium
• A macula has hair cells embedded in gelatinous material, with otoliths (calcium
carbonate crystals) on its surface.
• Gravity pulls on gelatinous mass when head changes position.
• Otoliths shift position, and pull on gelatinous mass and cilia of hair cells.
• Bending of hairs results in generation of nerve impulses in vestibular branch of
the vestibulocochlear nerve.

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 • Figure 12.17 Dynamic Equilibrium
• Receptors for dynamic equilibrium are found in 3 semicircular Canals.
• 3 canals sit at right angles to each other.
• Each canal contains an ampulla: a swelling of the membranous labyrinth that
communicates with the vestibule.

Crista ampullaris:
• Sensory organ for dynamic equilibrium.
• Hair cells and supporting cells.
• Located in ampulla of each semicircular canal.
• Consists of hair cells whose hairs extend upward into dome-shaped gelatinous
mass (cupula).
• Rotation of head or body bends cupula, stimulates hair cells.
• Nerve impulses are sent over vestibular branch of vestibulocochlear n.

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 • Figure 12.20 Dynamic Equilibrium: Crista
Ampullaris

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 • Sense of Sight
Visual receptors are found in the eye.
Accessory organs for sense of sight:
• Upper and lower eyelids (palpebrae, protection).
• Eyelashes (protection).
• Lacrimal apparatus (tear production).
• Extrinsic eye muscles (eye movement).

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 • Figure 12.22 Visual Accessory Organs:
Eyelids
Eyelids = Palpebrae
Composed of 4 layers:
• Skin.
• Muscle.
• Connective tissue.
• Conjunctiva.

Orbicularis oculi muscle closes eyelid

Levator palpebrae superioris muscle
opens eyelid.
Tarsal glands secrete oil onto eyelashes.
Conjunctiva: mucous membrane lines
eyelid and covers portion of eyeball.

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 • Figure 12.23 Visual Accessory Organs: Lacrimal Apparatus

Lcacrimal Apparatus:
Lacrimal gland:
• In orbit, lateral to eye.
• Secretes tears.
Canaliculi:
• 2 ducts that collect tears.
Lacrimal sac:
• Collects tears from canaliculi.
• Lies in groove in lacrimal bone.
Nasolacrimal duct:
• Collects from lacrimal sac.
• Empties tears into nasal cavity.
Lysozyme:
• Antibacterial component of tears.
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 • Figure 12.24 Visual Accessory Organs: Extrinsic Eye Muscles

Superior rectus:
• Rotates eye up and media.

Inferior rectus:
• Rotates eye down and medially.

Medial rectus:
• Rotates eye medially.

Lateral rectus:
• Rotates eye laterally.

Superior oblique:
• Rotates eye down and laterally.

Inferior oblique:
• Rotates eye up and laterally.

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 • Structure of the Eye
Hollow, spherical organ of sight.
Wall has 3 layers:
• Outer (fibrous) tunic.
• Middle (vascular) tunic.
• Inner (nervous) tunic.

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 • The Outer (Fibrous) Tunic
Outer (fibrous) tunic:
• Cornea + Sclera.
Cornea:
• Anterior sixth.
Cornea
• Transparent.
• Helps focus light rays.
• Transmits and refracts light.
Sclera:
• Posterior five sixths.
• White, opaque.
• Protects eye, attaches muscles.
Sclera
• Pierced by optic nerve and blood vessels.

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 • Middle (Vascular) Tunic
Middle (vascular) tunic:
Choroid coat + Ciliary body + Iris.
Choroid coat:
• Posterior five-sixths.
• Provides blood supply.
• Contains melanocytes.
• Melanin absorbs extra light.
Ciliary body:
• Anterior portion. Choroid coat
• Thickest portion, pigmented. Iris
• Forms ring to hold lens.
• Changes lens shape for focusing.
Iris:
• Anterior to ciliary body.
• In front of lens.
• Pigmented.
• Controls light entering the eye by controlling the size of the pupil (hole in the iris).

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 • Figure 12.25 Structure of the Eye

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 • Figure 12.26 Anterior Portion of the Eye
• Anterior cavity of eye, between cornea and lens, is filled with a watery
fluid, aqueous humor.
• Lens: Transparent, biconvex, lies behind iris, elastic, held in place by
suspensory ligaments of ciliary body; helps focus light rays, and changes
shape for long-distance or close vision.

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 • Figure 12.28 Ciliary Body and Lens
• Ciliary body forms internal ring around
the front of the eye.
• Ciliary processes are the radiating folds.
• Ciliary muscles contract and relax to
move lens.
• Suspensory ligaments hold lens in
position.
• Lens lies just behind iris and pupil.

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 • Figure 12.29 Accommodation
Accommodation:
A change in the shape of the lens, to
view close objects.
• Lens thickens and becomes more
convex when focusing on close object.
• Lens thins and becomes flatter when
focusing on distant objects.
• The ciliary muscle relaxes the
suspensory ligaments during
accommodation.

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 • Figure 12.31 Iris
• Iris controls amount of light entering the eye.
• Iris consists of connective tissue and smooth
muscle (colored portion of eye).
• Pupil is window or opening in center of iris.
• Dim light stimulates radial muscles and pupil
dilates.
• Bright light stimulates circular muscles and
pupil constricts.
• Amount and distribution of melanin
determines eye color.

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 • Figure 12.30 Aqueous Humor
Aqueous Humor:
• Fluid in anterior cavity of eye.
• Secreted by epithelium on inner surface of the ciliary body.
• Provides nutrients and maintains shape of anterior portion of eye.
• Leaves cavity through scleral venous sinus.

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 • Inner (Nervous) Tunic
• Inner tunic consists of retina.
• Retina contains visual receptors (photoreceptors).
• Continuous with optic nerve in back of eye.
• Ends just behind margin of the ciliary body toward front of eye.
• Composed of several layers.
• Macula lutea: yellowish spot in retina.
• Fovea centralis: center of macula lutea; produces sharpest vision.
• Optic disc: blind spot; contains no photoreceptors; found where nerve
fibers from retina leave eye to become optic nerve.
• Vitreous humor: thick gel that holds retina flat against choroid coat, and
helps maintain the eye’s shape.

©2019 McGraw-Hill Education.

 • Figure 12.34 The Retina

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 • Figure 12.25 Posterior Cavity
• Posterior cavity: space enclosed by lens, ciliary body, and retina.
• Contains vitreous humor: thick gel that supports internal structures and
maintains shape of eye.

©2019 McGraw-Hill Education.

 • Figure 12.32 Major Groups of Retinal
Neurons
• Photoreceptor cells, bipolar cells, and ganglion cells: provide
pathway for impulses triggered by photoreceptors to reach
the optic nerve.
• Horizontal cells and amacrine cells: modify, integrate impulses.

©2019 McGraw-Hill Education.

 • Table 12.6 Layers of the Eye

Layer/Tunic Posterior Function Anterior Function

Portion Portion
Outer layer Sclera Protection Cornea Light transmission and
refraction
Middle layer Choroid coat Blood supply; pigment Ciliary body, iris Accommodation;
prevents reflection controls light intensity
Inner layer Retina Photoreception; impulse None
conduction

©2019 McGraw-Hill Education.

 • Figure 12.35 Light Refraction
Refraction:
• Bending of light, which occurs when light waves pass at an angle between
mediums of different densities.
• Focusing bends light so the image falls on the fovea centralis.

©2019 McGraw-Hill Education.

 • Figure 12.36 Types of Lenses

Convex lenses cause light waves Concave lenses cause light waves
to converge. to diverge.

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 • Figure 12.37 Focusing on the Retina
As light enters eye, it is refracted by:
• Convex surface of cornea.
• Convex surface of lens.
Image focused on retina is upside down and reversed from left to right
Visual cortex corrects the reversals.

©2019 McGraw-Hill Education.

 • Clinical Application 12.6
Refraction Disorders

• Concave lens corrects nearsightedness.

• Convex lens corrects farsightedness.
©2019 McGraw-Hill Education.
 • Photoreceptors
Photoreceptors are modified neurons of retina that sense light:
Rods:
• Long, thin projections.
• Contain light sensitive pigment, called rhodopsin.
• Hundreds of times more sensitive to light than cones.
• Provide vision in dim light.
• Produce vision without color in shades of gray.
• Produce outlines of objects.
Cones:
• Short, blunt projections.
• Contain light sensitive pigments, called erythrolabe, chlorolabe, and cyanolabe.
• Provide vision in bright light.
• Produce sharp images.
• Produce color vision.
• Fovea centralis contains only cones.
©2019 McGraw-Hill Education.
 • Figure 12.38 Rods and Cones

Rods and cones are named for shape of receptive ends:

rods are cylindrical and cones are conical

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 • Visual Pigments
Rods and cones contain light-sensitive pigments that decompose upon absorption
of light:
Rhodopsin (Visual purple):
• Light-sensitive pigment in rods.
• In presence of light, decomposes into Opsin and Retinal.
• Triggers a complex series of reactions that initiates nerve impulses.
• Impulses travel along optic nerve.
Iodopsins (pigments in cones):
• Each type of cone contains different light-sensitive pigment.
• Each type of cone is sensitive to different wavelengths.
• Color perceived depends on which types of cones are stimulated.
• Erythrolabe: responds to red light.
• Chlorolabe: responds to green light.
• Cyanolabe: responds to blue light.
©2019 McGraw-Hill Education.
 • Figure 12.39 Rhodopsin in a Rod
Rhodopsin is embedded in the many
discs of membrane at the end of the rod.

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 • Figure 12.40 Stereoscopic Vision
• Provides perception of distance, depth, height and width of objects.
• Results from formation of two slightly different retinal images from eyes.

©2019 McGraw-Hill Education.

 • Figure 12.41 Visual Pathways
The visual pathway proceeds from
the ganglion cells of the retina to
the optic nerve, optic chiasma,
optic tracts, the thalamus, optic
radiations, and visual cortex in
occipital lobe of cerebrum.
A few fibers branch off before
reaching the thalamus, and enter
nuclei for visual reflexes.

©2019 McGraw-Hill Education.

 • Life-Span Changes
Age-related hearing loss due to:
• Damage to hair cells in spiral organ.
• Degeneration of neural pathways to the brain.
• Tinnitus.
Age-related visual problems include:
• Dry eyes.
• Floaters (crystals in vitreous humor).
• Loss of elasticity of lens, decreasing accommodation (presbyopia).
• Glaucoma.
• Cataracts.
• Macular degeneration.

Age-related smell and taste problems due to:

• Loss of olfactory receptors (anosmia).

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