Response properties of high-threshold cutaneous cold receptors in the primate.
Cutaneous high-threshold cold receptors (HCRs) in the monkey were identified as sensitive only to cold temperatures below 27 degrees C and not responsive to mechanical or heat noxious stimulation. Some HCRs had axons conducting in the low A-delta range while others had C fibers. The response properties of HCRs were contrasted with those of mechanothermal nociceptors, the latter believed to contribute to the sense of cold pain. HCRs with A delta fibers may contribute to the sense of innocuous cold below temperatures to which low-threshold cold receptors are maximally responsive.
D000344:Afferent Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats; D003080:Cold Temperature; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology; D005073:Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory; D008252:Macaca fascicularis; D008465:Mechanoreceptors / Q000502:physiology; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000502:physiology; D009619:Nociceptors / Q000502:physiology; D012684:Sensory Thresholds; D012867:Skin / Q000294:innervation*; D013823:Thermoreceptors / Q000502:physiology*