Authors: Takashi Toda Miki Taoka
Publish Date: 2005/11/24
Volume: 168, Issue: 1-2, Pages: 303-306
Abstract
The representation of the oral structures in the postcentral somatosensory cortex was studied in conscious macaque monkeys by recording the activity of single neurons A total of 2807 neurons were isolated in the oral regions of three hemispheres in two animals Of these 375 neurons area 3a 3 area 3b 123 area 1 99 area 2 150 lacked an apparent receptive field RF and their relative frequency was significantly higher in area 2 19 than in more rostral areas area 3a 8 area 3b 10 area 1 12 We tested the responsiveness of these neurons to stimuli applied simultaneously to two discrete but functionally related oral structures interstructural twopoint stimuli iTPS Neurons in areas 3a 3b and 1 that lacked an apparent RF were not responsive to iTPS However 35 neurons in area 2 responded stably to iTPS applied to either of the following sets of oral structures the tongue and incisors n=18 incisors and lip n=9 lip and tongue n=12 or upper and lower lips n=8 Of them 19 neurons were activated during selfmovements such as tongue protrusion lip licking and food manipulation The neurons selectively responsive to iTPS might detect converging inputs from different oral structures and play a pivotal role in detecting objects straddling different oral structures and the mutual contact of oral structuresWe wish to thank Dr Michio Tanaka for his technical advice during the earlier stages of this experiment The study was supported by a Grantinaid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education Culture Sports Science and Technology of Japan 12771111 14771029
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