A continuum mechanical model of mechanoreceptive afferent responses to indented spatial patterns
Open accessAbstract
Information about the spatial structure of tactile stimuli is conveyed by slowly adapting type 1 (SA1) and rapidly adapting (RA) afferents innervating the skin. Here, we investigate how the spatial properties of the stimulus shape the afferent response. To that end, we present an analytical framework to characterize SA1 and RA responses to a wide variety of spatial patterns indented into the skin. This framework comprises a model of the tissue deformation produced by any three-dimensional indented spatial pattern, along with an expression that converts the deformation at the receptor site into a neural response. We evaluated 15 candidate variables for the relevant receptor deformation and found that physical quantities closely related to local membrane stretch were most predictive of the observed afferent responses. The main outcome of this study is an accurate working model of SA1 and RA afferent responses to indented spatial patterns.
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Certain key features of the object, such as the presence and orientation of edges, are enhanced at the periphery due to skin mechanics and the geometry of the receptive fields.
“Certain key features of the object, for example the presence and orientation of edges, are enhanced at the periphery due to skin mechanics (Fig. 4A) (Phillips and Johnson, 1981;Sripati et al., 2006) and the geometry of the receptive fields (Pruszynski and Johansson, 2014).”
From Biomimetic approaches to bionic touch through a peripheral nerve interface (2015) · cites this paper as Sripati et al., 2006
Sophisticated models that simulate different aspects of transduction do exist.
“Indeed, sophisticated models that simulate different aspects of transduction do exist.”
From Biomimetic approaches to bionic touch through a peripheral nerve interface (2015) · cites this paper as Sripati et al., 2006
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- Authors
- Sripati, A. P., Bensmaia, S. J., & Johnson, K. O.
- Affiliations
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Neurophysiology
- Publisher
- American Physiological Society
- Published
- 2006-06
- Volume
- 95
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 3852-3864
- ISSN
- 0022-3077 (ISSN-L)
- 1522-1598
- PMC
- PMC1839063
- OpenAlex
- W2111193324
- Cited by
- 130
- References
- 42
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 2.75
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Journal of Neurophysiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NS 38034, NS-18787, R01NS018787, P01NS038034)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Tactile and Sensory Interactions
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Motor Control and Adaptation
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Sensory Systems › Ion Channels and Receptors
- Keywords
- rapidly adapting afferents, indentation, skin deformation, membrane stretching, continuum mechanics
- MeSH terms
- Action Potentials, Afferent Pathways, Animals, Computer Simulation, Macaca mulatta, Models, Neurological, Neurons, Afferent, Physical Stimulation, Skin, Skin Physiological Phenomena, Space Perception, Stress, Mechanical, Touch, Mechanotransduction, Cellular
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