A cutaneous receptor is a type of sensory receptor

Sensory receptor

In a sensory system, a sensory receptor is a sensory nerve ending that responds to a stimulus in the internal or external environment of an organism...

 found in the dermis or epidermis. They are a part of the somatosensory system

Somatosensory system

The somatosensory system is a diverse sensory system composed of the receptors and processing centres to produce the sensory modalities such as touch, temperature, proprioception , and nociception . The sensory receptors cover the skin and epithelia, skeletal muscles, bones and joints, internal...

. Cutaneous receptors include e.g. cutaneous mechanoreceptors, nociceptors (pain) and thermoreceptors (temperature).

Types

The sensory receptors in the skin are:

• cutaneous mechanoreceptors
  • Ruffini's end organ (sustained pressure)
  • Meissner's corpuscle
    Meissner's corpuscle
    Meissner's corpuscles are a type of mechanoreceptor. They are a type of nerve ending in the skin that is responsible for sensitivity to light touch. In particular, they have highest sensitivity when sensing vibrations lower than 50 Hertz...
    
     (changes in texture, slow vibrations)
  • Pacinian corpuscle
    Pacinian corpuscle
    Lamellar corpuscles or Pacinian corpuscles are one of the four major types of mechanoreceptor. They are nerve endings in the skin, responsible for sensitivity to vibration and pressure. Vibrational role may be used to detect surface, e.g., rough vs...
    
     (deep pressure, fast vibrations)
  • Merkel's disc (sustained touch and pressure)
  • Free nerve ending
    Free nerve ending
    A free nerve ending is an unspecialized, afferent nerve ending, meaning it brings information from the body's periphery toward the brain. They function as cutaneous receptors and are essentially used by vertebrates to detect pain.-Structure:...
    
    s
• thermoreceptor
  Thermoreceptor
  A thermoreceptor is a sensory receptor, or more accurately the receptive portion of a sensory neuron, that codes absolute and relative changes in temperature, primarily within the innocuous range...
  
  
• nociceptor
  Nociceptor
  A nociceptor is a sensory receptor that responds to potentially damaging stimuli by sending nerve signals to the spinal cord and brain. This process, called nociception, usually causes the perception of pain.-History:...
  
  
• bulboid corpuscles
• chemoreceptor

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.

Cutaneous receptors

Modality Stimulus modality Stimulus modality also sensory modality is one aspect of a stimulus or what we percieve after a stimulus. For example the temperature modality is registered after heat or cold stimulate a receptor. There are many modalities: temperature, taste, pressure...	Type	Fiber type Fiber type Fiber type may refer to:*Fiber*Axon*Skeletal muscle...
Touch	Rapidly adapting cutaneous mechanoreceptors (Meissner corpuscle end-organs Pacinian corpuscle end-organs hair follicle receptors  some free nerve endings)	Aβ fibers
Touch & pressure	Slowly adapting cutaneous mechanoreceptors (Merkel and Ruffini corpuscle end-organs some free nerve endings)	Aβ fibers (Merkel and Ruffini's), Aδ fibers A delta fiber A delta fibers, or Aδ fibers, are a type of sensory fiber.They are associated with cold and pressure, and as nociceptors stimulation of them is interpreted as fast/first pain information....  (free nerve endings)
Vibration	Meissners and Pacinian corpuscle end-organs	Aβ fibers
Temperature	Thermoreceptor Thermoreceptor A thermoreceptor is a sensory receptor, or more accurately the receptive portion of a sensory neuron, that codes absolute and relative changes in temperature, primarily within the innocuous range... s	Aδ fibers A delta fiber A delta fibers, or Aδ fibers, are a type of sensory fiber.They are associated with cold and pressure, and as nociceptors stimulation of them is interpreted as fast/first pain information....  (cold receptors) C fibers (warmth receptors)
Pain	Free nerve ending Free nerve ending A free nerve ending is an unspecialized, afferent nerve ending, meaning it brings information from the body's periphery toward the brain. They function as cutaneous receptors and are essentially used by vertebrates to detect pain.-Structure:...  nociceptors	Aδ fibers A delta fiber A delta fibers, or Aδ fibers, are a type of sensory fiber.They are associated with cold and pressure, and as nociceptors stimulation of them is interpreted as fast/first pain information....  (Nociceptors of neospinothalamic tract) C fibers (Nociceptors of paleospinothalamic tract)

Morphology

Cutaneous receptors are at the ends of afferent neurons. They are usually encapsulated in elaborate cellular corpuscles. Generally, they are linked to collagen-fibre networks within the capsule. Ion channels are situated near these networks.

In sensory transduction, the afferent nerve

Afferent nerve

In the nervous system, afferent neurons , carry nerve impulses from receptors or sense organs towards the central nervous system. This term can also be used to describe relative connections between structures. Afferent neurons communicate with specialized interneurons...

s transmit through a series of synapse

Synapse

In the nervous system, a synapse is a structure that permits a neuron to pass an electrical or chemical signal to another cell...

s in the central nervous system

Central nervous system

The central nervous system is the part of the nervous system that integrates the information that it receives from, and coordinates the activity of, all parts of the bodies of bilaterian animals—that is, all multicellular animals except sponges and radially symmetric animals such as jellyfish...

, first in the spinal cord

Spinal cord

The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular bundle of nervous tissue and support cells that extends from the brain . The brain and spinal cord together make up the central nervous system...

 or trigeminal nucleus, depending on the dermatomic area

Dermatomic area

A dermatome is an area of skin that is mainly supplied by a single spinal nerve.There are eight cervical nerves ,twelve thoracic nerves,five lumbar nerves and five sacral nerves....

 concerned. One pathway then proceeds to the ventrobasal portion of the thalamus

Thalamus

The thalamus is a midline paired symmetrical structure within the brains of vertebrates, including humans. It is situated between the cerebral cortex and midbrain, both in terms of location and neurological connections...

, and then on to the somatosensory cortex.