| |
pain
(pān)
a feeling of distress, suffering, or agony, caused by stimulation of specialized nerve endings. Its purpose is chiefly protective; it acts as a warning that tissues are being damaged and induces the sufferer to remove
or withdraw from the source. The receptors for pain stimuli (nociceptors) are free nerve endings that are abundantly distributed in superficial layers of the skin and mucous membranes, as well as in deeper tissues such as the periosteum, surfaces of the joints, arterial walls, and the falx and tentorium of the cranial cavity.
Copyright 2007. An Elsevier publication. All rights reserved.
Click here for important legal information about Dorland's Medical Dictionary.
|
