Multisensory and Motor Representations in Rat Oral Somatosensory Cortex
Multisensory and Motor Representations in Rat Oral Somatosensory Cortex
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DOI：
10.1038/s41598-018-31710-0
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发表时间：
2018-09-10
影响因子：
4.6
通讯作者：
Brecht, Michael
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Clemens, Ann M.;Delgado, Yohami Fernandez;Brecht, Michael
在哺乳动物中，一系列复杂的口腔传感器评估食物的味道、温度和触觉特性。虽然味觉的表征在味觉皮层中已经得到了广泛的研究，但还不清楚躯体感觉皮层如何编码有关口腔刺激特性的信息。此外，人们对不同的口腔感觉方式是如何整合的以及感觉反应如何转化为口腔运动动作的了解甚少。为了研究口腔体感皮层是否处理食物相关的感觉和运动，我们在大鼠体内进行了全细胞记录和运动映射实验。口腔体感皮层神经元对空气刺激表现出强烈的突触后和稀疏的动作电位反应。膜电位显示，冷水诱发的反应比室温或热水更大。大多数神经元对苦、甜和中性味觉刺激的反应没有明显的调谐。最后，运动映射实验与组织学验证揭示了启动的运动相关的食物消费行为，如下巴打开和舌头的突起。我们得出结论，体感皮层：（i）提供了一个代表性的温度的口腔刺激，（ii）不系统编码的味觉信息和（iii）影响orofacial运动相关的食物消费行为。
In mammals, a complex array of oral sensors assess the taste, temperature and haptic properties of food. Although the representation of taste has been extensively studied in the gustatory cortex, it is unclear how the somatosensory cortex encodes information about the properties of oral stimuli. Moreover, it is poorly understood how different oral sensory modalities are integrated and how sensory responses are translated into oral motor actions. To investigate whether oral somatosensory cortex processes food-related sensations and movements, we performed in vivo whole-cell recordings and motor mapping experiments in rats. Neurons in oral somatosensory cortex showed robust postsynaptic and sparse action potential responses to air puffs. Membrane potential showed that cold water evoked larger responses than room temperature or hot water. Most neurons showed no clear tuning of responses to bitter, sweet and neutral gustatory stimuli. Finally, motor mapping experiments with histological verification revealed an initiation of movements related to food consumption behavior, such as jaw opening and tongue protrusions. We conclude that somatosensory cortex: (i) provides a representation of the temperature of oral stimuli, (ii) does not systematically encode taste information and (iii) influences orofacial movements related to food consummatory behavior.