Peripheral somatosensory system

The peripheral somatosensory system is the portion of the nervous system responsible for detecting external and internal stimulus modalities such as touch, pain, temperature, and proprioception. It is composed of several types of sensory receptor neurons (e.g., mechanoreceptors, nociceptors, thermoreceptors, proprioceptors) whose cell bodies are located in dorsal root and cranial ganglia. These neurons send peripheral projections to the skin, muscles, joints, and central projections into the spinal cord and brain, enabling the perception and localization of sensory inputs. The specific molecular constituents of the peripheral somatosensory system include many receptor proteins and ion channels (e.g., TRPV1, TRPM8, Piezo channels), but the system itself is not a single therapeutically targetable molecule or receptor[1][3][4][5][6].

Other names

Somatosensory systemSomatic sensory systemPeripheral somatosensory neurons