Any damage or injury to a particular area causes nociceptors to release some chemicals, which carry the signal to the higher centres in the nervous system for the processing and a subsequent action. However, there is a difference in the way in which the stimulus is received which is related to the acuity of the detection. Fingertips are more sensitive as compared to the forearm. Following reasons for the observed phenomenon were suggested.
i. The receptive fields in the fingertip are smaller
ii. The number of nociceptors per receptive field in the forearm is lesser
iii. The amount of prostaglandins released by the nociceptors per receptive field is more in fingertips
The most probable reason(s) for this may be: