Adult Motor Cortex Somatic Representation Patterns Reorganize after Motor Nerve Injury.

Abstract

We investigated the stability of adult cerebral motor cortex organization by comparing motor representation patterns in rats with a motor nerve lesion to normal rats. Eight days after section of the facial motor innervation of the whisker follicles, cortical mapping with electrical stimulation showed that eye, eyelid, or forelimb movements could now be evoked at low thresholds from the region of the normal vibrissa representation. This indicates that adjacent representations expand into the deefferented area. These changes suggest that cortical motor representations depend upon the integrity of peripheral targets for long-term maintenance. (aw)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 28, 1988
Accession Number
ADA195860

Entities

People

  • Jerome N. Sanes
  • John P. Donoghue
  • Selim Suner

Organizations

  • Brown University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Animal Structures
  • Animals
  • Autonomic Nervous System
  • Boundaries
  • Brain
  • Diseases And Disorders
  • Eye
  • Eye Movements
  • Intensity
  • Laboratory Animals
  • Medical Personnel
  • Motor Neurons
  • Neurons
  • Rhode Island
  • Spinal Cord
  • United States

Fields of Study

  • Biology
  • Psychology

Readers

  • Computational Linguistics
  • Neuroscience
  • Vision Science/Vision Psychology/Cognitive Neuroscience.