Giuffrida R, Sanderson P, Sapienza S
Somatosens Res. 1985;2(3):237-47. doi: 10.3109/07367228509144566.
Cortical foci in which stimulation produced movement in either the forelimb or hindlimb were isolated in rats. In each experiment, two foci were selected: one for movement in the forelimb, and the other in the hindlimb. Stimulation was subsequently reduced in order to avoid eliciting a movement, and the effects of this stimulation on activity of gracile and cuneate neurons were examined. Both excitation and inhibition were observed and were found to be arranged in a somatotopic manner. Excitation was almost exclusively obtained when the receptive field (RF) of a given neuron corresponded to the body surfaces overlying the joints involved in the cortically evoked movement. A high percentage of neurons with RFs on body surfaces corresponding to, or adjacent to, the region of cortically induced movement were inhibited, while the activity of neurons with RFs distant to the site of movement was seldom modified. These results suggest that cortical influences exerted on the dorsal column nuclei (DCN) in rats are organized in a somatotopic manner.
在大鼠中分离出了刺激可在前肢或后肢产生运动的皮质病灶。在每个实验中，选择两个病灶：一个用于前肢运动，另一个用于后肢运动。随后减少刺激以避免引发运动，并检查这种刺激对薄束和楔束神经元活动的影响。观察到了兴奋和抑制，并且发现它们以躯体定位的方式排列。当给定神经元的感受野（RF）对应于皮质诱发运动所涉及关节上方的体表时，几乎完全获得兴奋。很大比例的感受野位于与皮质诱导运动区域相对应或相邻的体表上的神经元受到抑制，而感受野远离运动部位的神经元活动很少改变。这些结果表明，大鼠中施加于背柱核（DCN）的皮质影响是以躯体定位的方式组织的。
