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Malleability of the cortical hand map following a finger nerve block

Wesselink, Daan B; Sanders, Zeena-Britt; Edmondson, Laura R; Dempsey-Jones, Harriet; Kieliba, Paulina; Kikkert, Sanne; Themistocleous, Andreas C; ... Makin, Tamar R; + view all (2022) Malleability of the cortical hand map following a finger nerve block. Science Advances , 8 (16) , Article eabk2393. 10.1126/sciadv.abk2393. Green open access

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Abstract

Electrophysiological studies in monkeys show that finger amputation triggers local remapping within the deprived primary somatosensory cortex (S1). Human neuroimaging research, however, shows persistent S1 representation of the missing hand's fingers, even decades after amputation. Here, we explore whether this apparent contradiction stems from underestimating the distributed peripheral and central representation of fingers in the hand map. Using pharmacological single-finger nerve block and 7-tesla neuroimaging, we first replicated previous accounts (electrophysiological and other) of local S1 remapping. Local blocking also triggered activity changes to nonblocked fingers across the entire hand area. Using methods exploiting interfinger representational overlap, however, we also show that the blocked finger representation remained persistent despite input loss. Computational modeling suggests that both local stability and global reorganization are driven by distributed processing underlying the topographic map, combined with homeostatic mechanisms. Our findings reveal complex interfinger representational features that play a key role in brain (re)organization, beyond (re)mapping.

Type: Article
Title: Malleability of the cortical hand map following a finger nerve block
Location: United States
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abk2393
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abk2393
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright © 2022 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S.Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC BY).
Keywords: Brain Mapping, Fingers, Hand, Nerve Block, Somatosensory Cortex
UCL classification: UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10147771
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