Opossum somatic sensory cortex: A microelectrode mapping study

Abstract

Organization of opossum somatic sensory cortex has been investigated utilizing closely spaced microelectrode penetrations (0.25–0.5 mm apart) and delicate mechanical stimulation of body surfaces including the facial vibrissae. Results may be summarized as follows: (1) the general organization of somatic sensory cortex, as originally defined by Lende ('63a) has been confirmed; (2) a double representation of the contralateral mystacial vibrissae and rhinarium, implicit in Lende's original data, was revealed in detail, the two representations being orderly, adjacent, mirror-images of each other; (3) units at a given cortical locus responded to deflection of between one and five mystacial vibrissae, about half responding to movement of a single vibrissa only; (4) about 40% of mystacial vibrissa units showed a directional specificity to the extent that they responded to deflections in only one or two cardinal directions; (5) units located in the medial vibrissa area showed a greater directional specificity than did units located in the lateral vibrissa area; (6) the surface area of rhinarial receptive fields was about ten times the area of first-order rhinarial unit receptive fields (B. Pubols et al., '73); (7) representation of the contralateral forelimb, especially the ventral surface of the forepaw, is extensive, orderly, and precise; (8) representation of the contralateral hindlimb, foot, and tail is minimal, and is confined to the midline convexity; (9) the presence of a small region of bilateral representation, lateral to the regions of contralateral representation, was confirmed. It is suggested that the region of contralateral postcranial representation plus the medial rhinarium and mystacial vibrissa areas are the homologue of SmII in placental mammals, and the region of bilateral representation is homologous to SmII of placental mammals, but that the lateral vibrissa and rhinarium areas are a specialization of somatic sensory cortex unique to the Virginia opossum.