Topic summary
Nociceptors
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Nociceptor.
Types and functions
Nociceptors are usually electrically silent when not stimulated. The peripheral terminal of the mature nociceptor is where the noxious stimuli are detected and transduced into electrical energy. When the electrical energy reaches a threshold value, an action potential is induced and driven towards the central nervous system (CNS). This leads to the train of events that allows for the conscious awareness of pain. The sensory specificity of nociceptors is established by the high threshold only to particular features of stimuli. Only when the threshold has been reached are the nociceptors triggered.