While playing outside in the snow, a young child complained of painful fingertips since he would not keep his gloves on

Question

In the emergency department, the nurse knows this painful sensation is a result of which transmission of proprioceptive somatosensory information?
A) Reflexive networks
B) Type C dorsal root ganglion neurons
C) Anterolateral pathway
D) Myelinated type B trigeminal sensory neurons

Answer 1

Ans: B
Feedback:
All somatosensory information from the limbs and trunk shares a common class of sensory neurons called dorsal root ganglion neurons. The unmyelinated type C fibers have the smallest diameter and the slowest rate of conduction. They convey warm–hot sensation and mechanical and chemical as well as heat- and cold-induced pain sensation. Somatosensory information from the face and cranial structures, however, is transmitted by trigeminal sensory neurons, which function in the same manner as the dorsal root ganglion neurons. The second-order neurons communicate with various reflex networks and sensory pathways in the spinal cord and contain the ascending pathways that travel to the thalamus. In contrast to the dorsal column–medial lemniscal pathway, the anterolateral pathway transmits sensory signals such as pain, thermal sensations, crude touch, and pressure that do not require highly discrete localization of the signal source or fine discrimination of intensity.