Skip to main content
Log in

Responses of single receptor units of the rat mammary gland parenchyma to tactile stimulation

  • Published:
Neuroscience and Behavioral Physiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Slowly adapting mechanoreceptor units with regular and irregular discharges were found in the mammary gland parenchyma. The receptive fields of both types of receptor units had a diameter of 1–1.5 mm. In some cases the receptor units had spontaneous activity at rest (0.5–3 spikes/sec). During stimulation by sawtooth mechanical stimuli with different rates of rise the momentary frequency of the receptor units was a linear function of amplitude of the mechanical stimulus. The threshold of afferent action potentials of the receptor units increased with an increase in the rate of rise of the mechanical stimulus.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

Literature cited

  1. N. P. Alekseev, V. A. Velling, and I. I. Grachev, “Functional characteristics of fast-adapting mechanoreceptor units of the nipple of the rat mammary gland,” Fiziol. Zh. SSSR,62, 375 (1976).

    Google Scholar 

  2. N. P. Alekseev, S. A. Alieva, I. I. Grachev, V. S. Darinskaya, É. I. Khatazhukova, and N. Z. Épshtein, “On the properties of mechanoreceptor units of the mammary gland parenchyma,” Fiziol. Zh. SSSR,63, 673 (1977).

    Google Scholar 

  3. N. P. Alekseev, P. F. Afanasenko, V. I. Il'in, “An apparatus for measuring momentary frequency,” Fiziol. Zh. SSSR,63, 1751 (1977).

    Google Scholar 

  4. V. A. Velling, “Electrophysiological investigation of mechanoreceptors of the skin of the areola and nipple of the mammary gland,” Dissertation, Leningrad (1975).

  5. T. V. Krestinskaya, “Receptors of the mammary gland,” Arkh. Anat. Gistol. Émbriol.,29, 54 (1952).

    Google Scholar 

  6. É. N. Lavrova, “On the dynamics of the nervous apparatus of the mammary gland in different functional states,” in: Morpho-Physiology of the Nervous and Cardiovascular Systems under Normal and Pathological Conditions [in Russian], Cheboksary (1975), pp. 84–89.

  7. M. G. Morozova, “Morphology of the sensory innervation of the human breast,” Arkh. Anat., Gistol. Embriol.,31, 50 (1954).

    Google Scholar 

  8. B. Ballantyne and P. R. Bunch, “The neurohistology of quiescent mammary tissue inLepus albus,” J. Comp. Neurol.,127, 471 (1966).

    Google Scholar 

  9. P. R. Burgess and E. R. Perl, “Cutaneous mechanoreceptors and nociceptors,” in: Handbook of Sensory Physiology, Vol. 2, Berlin, New York, Heidelberg (1973), p. 29.

    Google Scholar 

  10. M. R. Chambers, K. H. Andres, M. During, and A. Iggo, “The structure and function of the slowly adapting type II mechanoreceptors in hairy skin,” Quart. J. Exp. Physiol.,57, 417 (1972).

    Google Scholar 

  11. C. Eyzaguirre and S. W. Kuffler, “Process of excitation in the dendrites and in the soma of single isolated sensory nerve cells of the lobster and crayfish,” J. Gen. Physiol.,39, 87 (1955).

    Google Scholar 

  12. I. Fukami and R. S. Wilkinson, “Responses of isolated Golgi tendon organs of the cat,” J. Physiol. (London),265, 673 (1977).

    Google Scholar 

  13. K. W. Horch and P. R. Burgess, “Responses to threshold and suprathreshold stimuli by slowly adapting cutaneous mechanoreceptors in the cat,” J. Comp. Physiol.,110, 307 (1976).

    Google Scholar 

  14. C. C. Hunt and D. Ottoson, “Impulse activity and receptor potential of primary and secondary endings of isolated mammalian muscle spindles,” J. Physiol. (London),252, 258 (1975).

    Google Scholar 

  15. B. Katz, “Depolarization of sensory terminals and the initiation of impulses in the muscle spindle,” J. Physiol (London),111, 261 (1955).

    Google Scholar 

  16. E. E. Macpherson and W. Montagna, “The mammary glands of rhesus monkeys,” J. Invest. Dermatol.,63, 17 (1974).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Additional information

Translated from Fiziologicheskii Zhurnal SSSR imeni I. M. Sechenova, Vol. 65, No. 6, pp. 912–919, June, 1979.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Grachev, I.I., Alekseev, N.P., Khatazhukova, É.I. et al. Responses of single receptor units of the rat mammary gland parenchyma to tactile stimulation. Neurosci Behav Physiol 11, 482–487 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01182802

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01182802

Key words

Navigation