Adult Motor Cortex Somatic Representation Patterns Reorganize after Motor Nerve Injury

摘要

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.