Florence S L, Taub H B, Kaas J H
Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, 301 Wilson Hall, Nashville, TN 37240, USA.
Science. 1998 Nov 6;282(5391):1117-21. doi: 10.1126/science.282.5391.1117.
Distributions of thalamic and cortical connections were investigated in four macaque monkeys with long-standing, accidental trauma to a forelimb, to determine whether the growth of new connections plays a role in the reorganization of somatosensory cortex that occurs after major alterations in peripheral somatosensory inputs. In each monkey, microelectrode recordings of cortical areas 3b and 1 demonstrated massive reorganizations of the cortex related to the affected limb. Injections of tracers in area 1 of these monkeys revealed normal patterns of thalamocortical connections, but markedly expanded lateral connections in areas 3b and 1. Thus, the growth of intracortical but not thalamocortical connections could account for much of the reorganization of the sensory maps in cortex.
研究了四只长期意外前肢创伤的猕猴丘脑和皮层连接的分布情况，以确定新连接的生长是否在周围体感输入发生重大改变后发生的体感皮层重组中发挥作用。在每只猴子中，对皮层区域3b和1的微电极记录显示与受影响肢体相关的皮层发生了大规模重组。在这些猴子的区域1注射示踪剂显示丘脑皮层连接模式正常，但在区域3b和1中横向连接明显扩大。因此，皮层内而非丘脑皮层连接的生长可能是皮层感觉图谱重组的主要原因。
