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Journal of Neuroscience, Vol 15, 4184-4195, Copyright © 1995 by Society for Neuroscience
Individual variation and lateral asymmetry of the rat primary somatosensory cortex
DR Riddle and D Purves
Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA.
We have evaluated the interindividual variability and lateral symmetry of a
major cortical area by comparing the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) of
adult rats. Our choice of the rat was dictated by the accuracy with which
one can measure S1 and its component representations in the rodent brain;
the importance of such measurements lies in understanding the rules that
govern the allocation of cortical space and, ultimately, the consequences
of differential allocation for behavior. With respect to interindividual
differences, the major somatic representations in S1 are surprisingly
variable in size. The area of the whiskerpad representation, for example,
ranged from 3.72 to 6.84 mm2 in a sample of 53 rats; other components of S1
showed comparable differences among animals. With respect to lateral
symmetry, the average area of each major representation was similar for the
right and left hemispheres; thus, we found no consistent bias in the size
of S1 or its elements in the sample as a whole. Within individual animals,
however, the sizes of the major somatic representations were often quite
different in the two hemispheres. The magnitude of the lateral differences
averaged 7.9 +/- 0.8% (mean +/- SEM) for the whisker pad representation,
11.6 +/- 1.3% for the upper lip, 15.4 +/- 1.6% for the furry buccal pad,
13.9 +/- 1.4% for the lower jaw, and 13.3 +/- 1.2% for the forepaw. These
results show that the amount of cortical space allocated to corresponding
functions in individual rats--or in the two hemispheres of a particular
rat--are often different. Such variations are likely to be reflected in
somatosensory performance.
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