Receptive fields of cutaneous mechanoceptive neurons in the frog, Discoglossus pictus, following skin transplantation at larval stages.

The receptive fields of individual spinal ganglion cells were mapped in frogs in which a large patch of belly skin had been transplanted to the back prior to metamorphosis. Wiping reflexes aimed at the belly could be elicited both from regenerated normal and transplanted belly skin. We concluded that the sensory neurons mediating misdirected responses could not be the same ones as those mediating normal wipes, since unit receptive fields were either on normal or on grafted belly skin, but never both. A proposed mechanism for explaining the origin of cutaneous reflex connections on the basis of selective innervation of peripheral tissues could hereby be discarded.