PubMed Health⌕ Search

SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “sensory function”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 181 records · Page 10Linked to original sources

Sensory functions of the heart.

Stretch receptors are situated in the walls of the atria, left ventricle and coronary arteries. Atrial receptors are stimulated by atrial distension due to increased filling as the result, amongst other things, of an increased blood volume. Their reflex responses are increases in heart rate and in urine flow. Ventricular receptors may be stimulated by chemical agents, mechanical stimuli, or both. They are responsible for the Bezold-Jarisch reflex of bradycardia and hypotension, but their normal physiological role, if any, is uncertain. The proximal part of the left coronary artery contains baroreceptors which are excited by increases in blood pressure. Their role, like other baroreceptors, is to control blood pressure by regulation of the diameter of the peripheral blood vessels.

Coronary Vessels↗

Perception of musical tension in short chord sequences: the influence of harmonic function, sensory dissonance, horizontal motion, and musical training.

This study investigates the effect of four variables (tonal hierarchies, sensory chordal consonance, horizontal motion, and musical training) on perceived musical tension. Participants were asked to evaluate the tension created by a chord X in sequences of three chords [C major-->X-->C major] in a C major context key. The X chords could be major or minor triads major-minor seventh, or minor seventh chords built on the 12 notes of the chromatic scale. The data were compared with Krumhansl's (1990) harmonic hierarchy and with predictions of Lerdahl's (1988) cognitive theory, Hutchinson and Knopoff's (1978) and Parncutt's (1989) sensory-psychoacoustical theories, and the model of horizontal motion defined in the paper. As a main outcome, it appears that judgments of tension arose from a convergence of several cognitive and psychoacoustics influences, whose relative importance varies, depending on musical training.

Auditory Perception↗

Hyperbaric oxygen for the treatment of traumatic incomplete spinal cord injury: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

The therapeutic efficacy of hyperbaric oxygen therapy for traumatic incomplete spinal cord injury remains a subject of debate. To comprehensively evaluate the impact of hyperbaric oxygen on motor function, sensory function, and activities of daily living in patients with traumatic incomplete spinal cord injury, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis. We performed a comprehensive search across PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and major Chinese databases for randomized controlled trials published through June 2025. A total of 15 randomized controlled trials were included. The pooled results indicated that hyperbaric oxygen therapy significantly improved the American Spinal Injury Association motor score (mean difference = 10.30, 95% confidence interval: 7.70-12.90), the total American Spinal Injury Association sensory score (mean difference = 29.29, 95% confidence interval: 18.82-39.75), the American Spinal Injury Association light touch score (mean difference = 9.84, 95% confidence interval: 6.15-13.53), and the American Spinal Injury Association pinprick score (mean difference = 8.75, 95% confidence interval: 4.40-13.11). Furthermore, hyperbaric oxygen therapy was associated with significant enhancements in the Barthel Index (mean difference = 16.60, 95% confidence interval: 10.51-22.68) and the Functional Independence Measure (mean difference = 17.41, 95% confidence interval: 10.83-23.98). In conclusion, adjunctive hyperbaric oxygen therapy appears to improve motor function, sensory function, and activities of daily living in patients with traumatic incomplete spinal cord injury compared to conventional treatments alone. However, due to methodological limitations and potential publication bias in the included studies, these findings should be interpreted with caution, and further high-quality, multi-center randomized controlled trials are warranted.

Humans↗

Recovery of cutaneous pain sensitivity after end-to-side nerve repair in the rat.

OBJECT: The hypothesis that collaterally sprouting axons from an uninjured donor nerve may provide recovery of pain sensitivity in the skin after end-to-side nerve repair was investigated in rats. In addition, the effect of this technique on the donor nerve was examined. METHODS: The distal stump of the transected peroneal nerve was sutured end to side to the intact sural nerve. No epineurial window or perineurial slit was made in the sural nerve at the site of coaptation. Other nerves in the leg were transected and ligated. Eighteen weeks later, the sural nerve was transected at a site distal from the coaptation site. The residual pain sensitivity in the peroneal innervation field in the instep was documented using the skin pinch test in three of 11 animals. The area of sensitivity encompassed 19 to 40% of the maximum nociceptive innervation area of the normal peroneal nerve. The nerve pinch test revealed functional sensory axons in all communicating peroneal nerves, in which 277+/-119 myelinated axons (mean +/- standard deviation) were found by histological investigation. CONCLUSIONS: The authors conclude that at least partial recovery of sensory function due to collateral sprouting of axons after end-to-side nerve repair is possible in principle. However, the presence of functional sensory axons in the peroneal nerve stumps did not guarantee the recovery of skin sensitivity to pain in all animals. No functional or morphological evidence of an untoward effect of collateral sprouting into the end-to-side communicating nerve was detected in the axons of the donor nerve itself.

Animals↗

Sensory neuropeptides and airway function.

Sensory nerves synthesize tachykinins and calcitonin-gene related peptide and package these neuropeptides together in synaptic vesicles. Stimulation of these C-fibers by a range of chemical and physical factors results in afferent neuronal conduction that elicits central parasympathetic reflexes and in antidromic conduction that results in local release of neuropeptides through the axon reflex. In the airways, sensory neuropeptides act on bronchial smooth muscle, the mucosal vasculature, and submucosal glands to promote airflow obstruction, hyperemia, microvascular hyperpermeability, and mucus hypersecretion. In addition, tachykinins potentiate cholinergic neurotransmission. Proinflammatory effects of these peptides also promote the recruitment, adherence, and activation of granulocytes that may further exacerbate neurogenic inflammation (i.e., neuropeptide-induced plasma extravasation and vasodilation). Enzymatic degradation limits the physiological effects of tachykinins but may be impaired by respiratory infection or other factors. Given their sensitivity to noxious compounds and physical stimuli and their potent effects on airway function, it is possible that neuropeptide-containing sensory nerves play an important role in mediating airway responses in human disease. Supporting this view are the striking phenomenological similarities between hyperpnea-induced bronchoconstriction (HIB) in guinea pigs and HIB in patients with exercise-induced asthma. Endogenous tachykinins released from airway sensory nerves mediate HIB in guinea pigs and also cause hyperpnea-induced bronchovascular hyperpermeability in these animals. On the basis of these observations, it is reasonable to speculate that sensory neuropeptides participate in the pathogenesis of hyperpnea-induced airflow obstruction in human asthmatic subjects as well.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Penile and finger sensory thresholds in young, aging, and diabetic males.

To investigate the possible role of sensory function in conditions affecting sexual function, sensory thresholds were compared between young healthy men (n = 14, means age = 29.8), aging men (n = 15, means age = 67.3), and men suffering from diabetic impotence (n = 15, means age = 45.0). Using the psychophysical method of forced choice, vibrotactile and electrical stimulation thresholds were deterlmined in two separate sessions at two body sites: the fingertip and the ventral surface of the penis, just proximal to the glans. Vibrotactile penile thresholds (VTP) were lowest for young (Y) subjects and much higher for both aging (A) and diabetic (D) subjects. Electrical stimulation of the penis (ESP) showed the same trends, although the differences only approached significance (p = 0.06). The vibrotactile finger threshold (VTF) was significantly higher for A subjects as compared with Y and D subjects, but there was no difference between the Y and D groups. Diabetic patients had significantly higher thresholds for electrical stimulation of the finger (ESF), in contrast to the VTF finding. Finger thresholds were significantly lower than penile thresholds for all groups, and the change in threshold from finger to penis was greater in both aging and diabetic than in young subjects. Age was positively correlated with thresholds for ESF, ESP, VTF, and marginally for VTP when all three groups were analyzed together. However, in general the results of threshold determinations could not be attributed merely to age. Based on a detailed questionnaire of sexuality, VTP was negatively correlated with sexual activity and both ESP and VTP were negatively correlated with erectile capacity. The data are consistent with a genital sensory role for age-related and diabetic changes in sexual function.

Adult↗

Management of an unstable lumbar fracture with a laminar split.

This is a case report describing the injury sustained by a 36-year-old man injured in a motorcycle crash who sustained a fracture dislocation of L2 upon L3, associated with a split in the lamina of L3. His neurologic lesion was T12 ASIA B: with a motor score of 52 but with preservation of sensory function (sensory score 96) in most parts of his lower extremities. He also suffered a lower extremity fracture. Imaging of the spine is presented showing a multiplanar fracture associated with translation and with a defect in the lamina that may be seen in certain AO type B or type C fractures, that may entrap the lumbar spinal nerve roots. Discussants of this case comment on the classification and clinical significance of this fracture pattern. and present their operative approaches, both for management of this particular fracture pattern and for any associated dural tear. The issues of steroid use and the place of rehabilitation are also discussed.

Accidents, Traffic↗

Reaching-lifting-placing task during standing after stroke: Coordination among ground forces, ankle muscle activity, and hand movement.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the coordination among hand movement, ground forces, and muscle activity in standing stroke patients reaching forward and lifting an object from a table. DESIGN: Survey. SETTING: Research laboratory. PATIENTS: Eight stroke patients and 8 persons serving as controls. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Symmetry of percentage of body weight (BW) during initial standing, velocity and hand path trajectory, ankle muscle electromyography. Temporal and spatial parameters in percentage of movement time were recorded by using 2 forceplates, 3-dimensional kinematics, and surface electromyography. Motor function, sensory function, and functional performance were also assessed. RESULTS: Weight distribution during initial standing was significantly higher (57.4% +/- 8.1% BW) on the nonparetic leg. All subjects had preserved the preparatory loading phase, and after onset of hand movement loading shifted to the contralateral leg. Ankle muscle activity onset (lateral gastrocnemius [LG]) occurred after loading. In stroke subjects, LG was consistently activated first in the nonparetic leg, regardless of which arm performed the task. During paretic hand task, the reaching phase was significantly longer and the lifting phase significantly shorter compared with that of the nonparetic hand task and with that of the controls. In the paretic task, the hand path velocity was not bell-shaped; the object lifting was. CONCLUSIONS: Stroke subjects preserve the coordination between ground forces and hand movement. The lack of spontaneous use of the paretic hand is primarily caused by difficulties of planning the hand trajectory in space, as reflected by temporal and spatial parameters during task performance.

Activities of Daily Living↗