Short-term expansion of receptive fields in rat primary somatosensory cortex after hindpaw digit denervation

Authors

Jennifer A. Byrne, University Of Queensland
Mike Calford, University of Wollongong

RIS ID

80105

Publication Details

Byrne, J. A. & Calford, M. (1991). Short-term expansion of receptive fields in rat primary somatosensory cortex after hindpaw digit denervation. Brain Research, 565 (2), 218-224.

Abstract

The immediate effect of changing the driving cutaneous input to locations within primary somatosensory cortex (SI) was examined by denervating one or more digits of the rat hindpaw by amputation or local anesthesia. When all or part of a receptive field of a cluster of neurons was denervated, it was found that the cortical location recorded from gained responsiveness to cutaneous stimulation of hindpaw areas bordering the denervated region. In 22 of the 29 animals studied this expansion took place within 5 min of the denervation.