Congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis (CIPA) is an inherited disease
ID: 47188 • Letter: C
Question
Congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis (CIPA) is an inherited disease of the nervous system that afflicts a very small number of people worldwide and is caused by a defect in a particular signaling molecule in the nervous system. People with CIPA are unable to sense extreme fluctuations in temperature, thus many succumb to heat stroke or hypothermia. They also cannot sense pain, but they can sense pressure applied to the skin. Which of the following sensory structures or receptors could be dysfunctional in people with CIPA?
nociceptors
thermoreceptors
pacinian corpuscles
nociceptors and thermoreceptors
Explanation / Answer
Thermoreceptors are specialized neurons designed to be sensitive to changes in temperature. A nociceptor is a sensory neuron (nerve cell) that senses pain. Since, the patient with Congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis (CIPA) cannot sense both pain and temperature, nociceptors and Thermoreceptors are non-functional in this patient.