title: Large-scale functional reorganization in adult monkey cortex after peripheral nerve injury.
abstract: In adult monkeys, peripheral nerve injuries induce dramatic examples of neural plasticity in somatosensory cortex. It has been suggested that a cortical distance limit exists and that the amount of plasticity that is possible after injury is constrained by this limit. We have investigated this possibility by depriving a relatively large expanse of cortex by transecting and ligating both the median and the ulnar nerves to the hand. Electrophysiological recording in cortical areas 3b and 1 in three adult squirrel monkeys no less than 2 months after nerve transection has revealed that cutaneous responsiveness is regained throughout the deprived cortex and that a roughly normal topographic order is reestablished for the reorganized cortex.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37240.
authors.forename: P E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Garraghty
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kaas
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001931:Brain Mapping; D006225:Hand / Q000294:innervation*; D008475:Median Nerve / Q000293:injuries / Q000502:physiology*; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity; D012453:Saimiri; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D014459:Ulnar Nerve / Q000293:injuries / Q000502:physiology*