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Functional Characteristics of the Parallel SI- and SII-Projecting Neurons of the Thalamic Ventral Posterior Nucleus in the Marmoset
School of Physiology and Pharmacology, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia Zhang, H. Q., G. M. Murray, G. T. Coleman, A. B. Turman, S. P. Zhang, and M. J. Rowe. Functional Characteristics of the Parallel SI- and SII-Projecting Neurons of the Thalamic Ventral Posterior Nucl...
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Published in: | Journal of neurophysiology 2001-05, Vol.85 (5), p.1805-1822 |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , |
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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Summary: | School of Physiology and Pharmacology, The University of New South
Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Zhang, H. Q.,
G. M. Murray,
G. T. Coleman,
A. B. Turman,
S. P. Zhang, and
M. J. Rowe.
Functional Characteristics of the Parallel SI- and SII-Projecting
Neurons of the Thalamic Ventral Posterior Nucleus in the
Marmoset. J. Neurophysiol. 85: 1805-1822, 2001. The functional organization of the primate somatosensory system
at thalamocortical levels has been a matter of controversy, in
particular, over the extent to which the primary and secondary somatosensory cortical areas, SI and SII, are organized in
parallel or serial neural networks for the
processing of tactile information. This issue was investigated for the
marmoset monkey by recording from 55 single tactile-sensitive neurons
in the lateral division of the ventral posterior nucleus of the
thalamus (VPL) with a projection to either SI or SII, identified with
the use of the antidromic collision technique. Neurons activated from
the hand and distal forearm were classified according to their
peripheral source of input and characterized in terms of their
functional capacities to determine whether the direct
thalamic input can account for tactile processing in both SI
and SII. Both the SI- and SII-projecting samples contained a
slowly adapting (SA) class of neurons, sensitive to static
skin displacement, and purely dynamically sensitive tactile neurons
that could be subdivided into two classes. One was most sensitive to
high-frequency ( 100 Hz) cutaneous vibration whose input appeared to
be derived from Pacinian sources, while the other was sensitive to
lower frequency vibration ( 100 Hz) or trains of rectangular
mechanical pulse stimuli, that appeared to receive its input from
rapidly adapting (RA) afferent fibers presumed to be
associated with intradermal tactile receptors. There appeared to be no
systematic differences in functional capacities between SI- and
SII-projecting neurons of each of these three classes, based on
receptive field characteristics, on the form of stimulus-response
relations, and on measures derived from these relations. These measures
included threshold and responsiveness values, bandwidths of vibrational
sensitivity, and the capacity for responding to cutaneous vibrotactile
stimuli with phase-locked, temporally patterned impulse activity. The
analysis indicates that low-threshold, high-acuity tactile information
is conveyed directly to both SI and SII from overlapping
regions with |
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ISSN: | 0022-3077 1522-1598 |
DOI: | 10.1152/jn.2001.85.5.1805 |