[Lemniscal and paralemniscal afferent pathways in rodents' trigeminal system are integrated at the level of the somatosensory cortex].
The present paper demonstrates a functional interaction between lemniscal and paralemniscal sensory pathways in vibrissal projection area in the somatosensory cortex in rats. Single unit activity was recorded in layers IV, Va and Vb. It is found that mechanical stimulation of whiskers elicits characteristic 'lemiscal' (phasic) responses mainly in layers IV and Vb, while neurons in layer Va show typical 'paralemiscal' (tonic). Our data reveal that neurons in layers IV and Vb comprise a population of rapidly adapting neurons and neurons in layer Va are slowly adapting. Our findings suggest that the somatosensory cortex receive lemniscal and paralemniscal projections. A cooperation of lemniscal and paralemniscal projection systems at the somatosensory cortex and strong adaptive capabilities of cortical neurons could increase an accuracy of tactile perception, therefore animals can fine discrimination of sensory stimuli in a given environment.
Sitnikova
E Iu
EIu
Raevskiĭ
V V
VV