Question

Are nociceptors voltage gated?

Answer 1

Yes, Nociceptors express a wide variety of voltage-gated channels (e.g., Nav, Cav, Kv) that transduce the receptor potential into an action potential or, more commonly, a set of action potentials that encode the intensity of a noxious stimulus applied within their receptive fields. Nociceptors are specialized peripheral sensory neurons that alert us to potentially damaging stimuli at the skin by detecting extremes in temperature and pressure and injury-related chemicals, and transducing these stimuli into long-ranging electrical signals that are relayed to higher brain centers.