cutaneous receptor

{{short description|Type of sensory receptor}}

A cutaneous receptor is a sensory receptor found in the skin that provides information about temperature, touch (including vibration and pain), spatial orientation,pressure (stretching or squeezing), and metabolic circumstances (including those induced by external chemical substances). The main four types of cutaneous receptors are tactile corpuscles, bulbous corpuscles, Pacinian corpuscles, and Merkel nerve endings, although the latter do not qualify as sensory corpuscles in the narrow sense.{{Cite journal |last1=Cobo |first1=Ramón |last2=García-Piqueras |first2=Jorge |last3=Cobo |first3=Juan |last4=Vega |first4=José A. |date=2021-01-10 |title=The Human Cutaneous Sensory Corpuscles: An Update |journal=Journal of Clinical Medicine |language=en |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=227 |doi=10.3390/jcm10020227 |doi-access=free |issn=2077-0383 |pmc=7827880 |pmid=33435193}}

==Types==

The sensory receptors in the skin are:

• Mechanoreceptors
• Bulbous corpuscles (skin stretch)
• Bulboid corpuscles (Cold)
• Tactile corpuscles (changes in texture, slow vibrations)
• Pacinian corpuscles (deep pressure, fast vibrations)
• Merkel nerve endings (sustained touch and pressure)
• Free nerve endings
• thermoreceptor
• nociceptors
• chemoreceptors

==Modalities==

With the above-mentioned receptor types the skin can sense the modalities touch, pressure, vibration, temperature and pain. The modalities and their receptors are partly overlapping, and are innervated by different kinds of fiber types.

class="wikitable" |+Cutaneous receptors
Modality	Type	Fiber type
Touch | Rapidly adapting cutaneous mechanoreceptors (tactile corpuscles Pacinian corpuscles hair follicle receptors some free nerve endings) || Aβ fibers
Touch and pressure | Slowly adapting cutaneous mechanoreceptors (Merkel nerve ending and bulbous corpuscles some free nerve endings) || Aβ fibers (Merkel and Ruffini's), Aδ fibers (free nerve endings)
Vibration | Tactile corpuscles and Pacinian corpuscles || Aβ fibers
Temperature | Thermoreceptors || Aδ fibers (cold receptors) C fibers (warmth receptors)
Pain and Itch | Free nerve ending nociceptors || Aδ fibers (Nociceptors of neospinothalamic tract) C fibers (Nociceptors of paleospinothalamic tract)