title: Atropine prevents the changes in the hindlimb cortical area induced by hypodynamia-hypokinesia.
abstract: It has been demonstrated that hypodynamia-hypokinesia (HH), a model of sensory disruption, induced a decrease in the cortical hindpaw representation and an enlargement of the cutaneous receptive fields (RFs). The present study was carried out to determine whether chronic application of atropine could prevent this reorganisation. The extent of the hindlimb representation on the somatosensory cortex was determined in control rats (C), rats submitted to HH (HH), and rats submitted to HH with a chronic cortical infusion of atropine (70 mM, HH-ATR). Our results show that the hindpaw cortical area was similar for the HH-ATR and C rats, and was smaller for the HH rats. The distribution of RFs was comparable for the C and HH-ATR groups with a high percentage of small RFs. In contrast, for the HH rats, the percentage of large RFs was higher. Atropine can thus prevent the reduction in the hindlimb cortical area induced by HH. These results suggest that cholinergic mechanisms contribute to cortical plasticity.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Plasticité Neuromusculaire, Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille, Bâtiment SN4, Villeneuve d'Ascq, France. neuromus@univ-lille1.fr
authors.forename: Erwan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dupont
authors.forename: Marie-Hélène
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Canu
authors.forename: Maurice
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Falempin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001285:Atropine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004594:Electrophysiology; D006614:Hindlimb; D018476:Hypokinesia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D018727:Muscarinic Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology*; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012683:Sensory Deprivation / Q000502:physiology; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D018727:Muscarinic Antagonists; D001285:Atropine