How the nervous system generates sensory and motor perception: linking peripheral detection, axonal cytoskeletal dynamics, and cortical representation

Abstract

Sensory and motor perception arise from a structurally continuous and functionally integrated system that connects peripheral stimulus detection to cortical interpretation and adaptive behavior. Peripheral receptors convert physical and chemical stimuli into electrical signals that propagate along long sensory axons. The structural stability and functional reliability of these axons depend on microtubule-based cytoskeletal organization and efficient axonal transport. Dynamic regulation of microtubules and tubulin post-translational modifications sustains mitochondrial positioning, membrane turnover, and conduction fidelity. When cytoskeletal integrity is compromised, axonal transport becomes inefficient, distal axons destabilize, and ascending sensory transmission deteriorates. Signals are subsequently integrated within spinal and thalamic circuits before reaching somatotopically organized cortical maps that shape perception and motor output. Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy exemplifies how cytoskeletal perturbation can propagate from molecular dysfunction to systems-level sensory distortion, highlighting cytoskeletal integrity as a fundamental determinant of perceptual reliability.