Topic
Somatosensory system
About: Somatosensory system is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 6371 publications have been published within this topic receiving 316900 citations.
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TL;DR: GA(A), a competitive gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-A receptor antagonist, preferentially disinhibited surround whisker responses relative to principal whisker responding, indicating that GABA(A) inhibition normally acts to sharpen whisker tuning.
Abstract: The role of inhibition in sensory cortical map plasticity is not well understood. Here we tested whether inhibition contributes to expression of receptive field plasticity in developing rat somatos...
94 citations
TL;DR: Assessment of somatosensory functions may have implications for future neuromodulatory treatment of pain complaints and motor rehabilitation programs in children and adults with cerebral palsy.
94 citations
TL;DR: It is found that the developmental expression of the NR2A subunit is delayed compared with the somatosensory cortex, in agreement with the prolonged critical period in the visual cortex, and sensory deprivation further delays the developmental change in the NMDA receptor subunit composition.
Abstract: The susceptibility of cortical networks to use-dependent modifications declines with age (critical period) and this decline of neuronal plasticity during development is paralleled by the shortening of NMDA receptor EPSCs. We showed previously in the somatosensory cortex that the shortening of NMDA receptor kinetics correlates with a developmentally-regulated increase in the NR2A subunit expression. Here we examine whether this developmental regulation of NR2A expression is related to the duration of critical periods and whether it is influenced by experience. Functional NMDA receptors and their molecular characteristics are studied in identified layer IV neurons of rat visual cortex. In this structure the time course of the critical period differs from that in the somatosensory cortex and can be changed by sensory deprivation, thus permitting examination of correlations between the time course of receptor expression and the duration of the critical period. We find that the developmental expression of the NR2A subunit is delayed compared with the somatosensory cortex, in agreement with the prolonged critical period in the visual cortex. Moreover, sensory deprivation further delays the developmental change in the NMDA receptor subunit composition, demonstrating the activity dependence of this process and strengthening the correlation between changes in subunit composition and the time course of the critical period.
94 citations
TL;DR: The findings suggest that human motor cortex plays a less important role in integration of disparate sensory inputs from the periphery than does motor cortex of lower animals.
94 citations