[Structural and functional organization of the dorsal column nuclei after unilateral exclusion of the medial lemniscus].

The authors studied ultrastructural changes in neurons and alterations in evoked electrical responses after stimulation of the forelegs in the nuclei gracilis and cuneatus one year after unilateral section of the medial lemniscus in cats. It was shown that intact projectional elements of the nuclei gracilis and cuneatus had the normal cytological appearance and functional activity of their synaptical organization in spite of the cytoarchitectonic asymmetry. After disruption of the medial lemniscus the symmetrical nuclei of the dorsal columns did not exhibit any asymmetry in the distribution of evoked responses after stimulation of the forelegs.