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Cortically induced thalamic plasticity in the primate somatosensory system

Nature Neuroscience volume 1, pages 226–229 (1998)Cite this article

Abstract

The influence of cortical feedback on receptive field organization in the thalamus was assessed in the primate somatosensory system. Chronic and acute suppression of neuronal activity in primary somatosensory cortex resulted in a striking enlargement of receptive fields in the ventroposterior thalamus. This finding demonstrates a dramatic 'top-down' influence of cortex on receptive field size in the somatosensory thalamus. In addition, this result has important implications for studies of adult neuronal plasticity because it indicates that changes in 'higher-order' areas of the brain can trigger extensive changes in the receptive field characteristics of neurons located earlier in the processing pathway.

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Figure 1: Representative RFs in VP following chronic administration of D-APV to somatosensory cortex.
Figure 2: Distribution histogram of RF sizes for recording sites localized within the VPL hand representation between control and D-APV groups.
Figure 3: RF size in VPL before and after acute cortical D-APV administration.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by NIH grants MH11950-01, MH53369-02 and NS35246-01.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosurgery, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, 27127, North Carolina, USA

    E.R. Ergenzinger, M.M. Glasier & T.P. Pons

  2. Program in Neuroscience, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, 27127, North Carolina, USA

    E.R. Ergenzinger

  3. Department of Neurosurgery, Georgetown University, Washington, 20057, D.C., USA

    J.O. Hahm

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  1. E.R. Ergenzinger
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  2. M.M. Glasier
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  3. J.O. Hahm
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  4. T.P. Pons
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Correspondence to T.P. Pons.

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Ergenzinger, E., Glasier, M., Hahm, J. et al. Cortically induced thalamic plasticity in the primate somatosensory system . Nat Neurosci 1, 226–229 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/673

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