Cortical potentials evoked by mechanical stimulation of different number of vibrissae of the rat.
Distribution maps of cortical potentials evoked by mechanical stimulation of different number of contralateral vibrissae were studied. It was found that stimulation of all the contralateral vibrissae led to more extensive activation than the barrel field in the somatosensory cortex. The activation was most widespread when all the vibrissae were synchronously deflected. With reduction of the number of synchronously stimulated whiskers the activated cortical area did not decrease in parallel. Deflection of only a few whiskers activated significantly smaller cortical areas.
Antal
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Department of Comparative Physiology, József Attila University, Szeged, Hungary.
Toldi
J
J
D000818:Animals; D005073:Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory; D010812:Physical Stimulation; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D014738:Vibrissae / Q000294:innervation*