The immediate effect of changing the driving cutaneous input to locations within primary somatosensory cortex (SI) was examined by denervating one or more digits of the rat hindpaw by amputation or local anesthesia. When all or part of a receptive field of a cluster of neurons was denervated, it was found that the cortical location recorded from gained responsiveness to cutaneous stimulation of hindpaw areas bordering the denervated region. In 22 of the 29 animals studied this expansion took place within 5 min of the denervation.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	amputation; local anesthesia; plasticity; somatosensory cortex; aged; anesthesia; animal experiment; article; controlled study; denervation; evoked response; male; nonhuman; priority journal; rat; somatosensory cortex; Amputation
Research Division:	Medical and Health Sciences
Research Group:	Neurosciences
Research Field:	Neurology and Neuromuscular Diseases
Objective Division:	Health
Objective Group:	Clinical Health (Organs, Diseases and Abnormal Conditions)
Objective Field:	Nervous System and Disorders
UTAS Author:	Calford, MB (Professor Mike Calford)
ID Code:	91264
Year Published:	1991
Web of Science® Times Cited:	60
Deposited By:	Research Division
Deposited On:	2014-05-13
Last Modified:	2014-05-13
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