What is a sensory receptor?
A sensory receptor is a part of a sensory neuron or cell (and possibly associated cells) that receives information from the world and relates it to your nervous system. For example, you learned way back in A&P 1 lab about Pacinian corpuscles in the skin; they are the deep pressure receptors. Each Pacinian corpuscle contains the dendritic terminal of a single sensory neuron (with its cell body located in the DRG). Each Pacinian corpuscle also contains some other cells that surround and enwrap the dendritic terminal. Together, the entire structure of the dendritic terminal plus the supporting cells is a Pacinian corpuscle (click here for an image of a cross-section through the dendrite)… this is a single sensory receptor. A nice description of sensory receptors is given in this General Sensory Physiology course page on the Sensory Cell. You may want to read the rest of this page and then go check out that link. Basically, some outside force has to have a way to act on dendrites (or som