afferent
- noun
- /ˈæfərənt/
- Specialized
:
aferente
- The afferent neurons carry sensory information from the skin to the brain to help us feel touch.
- nerve afferents
Examples
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Among them is bradykinin, a very potent activator of group III and IV afferent nerve endings, the afferents that signal pain to the CNS.
Academic text (1997) -
The cell bodies of inner hair cell afferents (type I ganglion cells) are large, and their processes are myelinated.
Academic text (1998) -
The vagus nerve is a major nerve which is containing afferents from all of the viscera.
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Afferents from the pelvic floor muscles are without an inhibitory effect on the bladder, at least in the cat.
Academic text (2000) -
Acetylcholine has been identified in primary vestibular afferents of the vestibular nuclei.
Academic text (2005) -
Inner hair cell afferents make up 95% of the auditory nerve fibers and innervate all three of the major subdivisions of the cochlear nuclei.
Academic text (1998) -
To survey all afferents to V1 and identify potential motor-related input, we used transsynaptic rabies tracing (Wickersham et al., 2007).
Academic text (2017) -
We propose that local excitation of small numbers of fine afferents will produce itch, and that disorders or unusual settings of the central inhibitory mechanisms can produce itch even though there is no input from the periphery.
Academic text (1999) -
We understand now that proprioception is a global rather than local system, and by affecting (restoring proprioceptive afferents) to one part of the body, we can affect distal and proximal structures.
Blog text (27) -
The afferent pathways transmit signals from the sensory organs to the central nervous system.
Synonyms
1
3.7
A long thin part that sends feelings from the skin to the brain and spinal cord
A nerve that carries signals from parts that feel, like the skin, to the brain or spinal cord
A long thin part of a nerve that carries signals to the brain and spinal cord
A thin nerve that sends messages about touch, pain, or temperature to the brain
A nerve cell that carries sensory signals to the brain or spinal cord
A nerve cell that sends signals from the body to the brain or spinal cord
Antonyms
Compounds
- Specialized
A long thin part of a nerve that carries signals to the brain and spinal cord
- Specialized
A nerve cell that carries sensory signals to the brain or spinal cord
- Specialized
A nerve that carries signals from parts that feel, like the skin, to the brain or spinal cord
Surface Forms
Morphology
afferent = af + fer + ent
Although analyzable as af- (assimilation of ad-) + fer + -ent, these Latin combining forms are not productive English morphemes and a typical learner cannot derive the meaning from familiar English words.
Etymology
Afferent comes from Latin parts ad- 'to' and ferre 'to carry'. So an afferent nerve is one that 'carries to' the brain and spinal cord, like a transfer ('to carry across') of sensory information into those centers.