PERIPHERAL NERVE REGENERATION AND DORSAL HORN SOMATOTOPY

周围神经损伤后周围感受器的再支配 会导致各种感官缺陷其中包括： 一般感觉敏锐度和正确定位能力的丧失 外围刺激其他常见症状包括几种过敏 反应，如感觉过敏、感觉障碍、痛觉过敏和头痛 这对个人来说是非常不利的。虽然这些赤字中有一些 可以是永久性的，其他的可以在神经再支配后逆转。 外周受体最近对灵长类动物的研究表明， 周围神经切断后的神经再支配 躯体感觉皮层的变化已经提出这些 组织变化可能在某种程度上与临床观察到的 从这些损伤后的感觉缺陷中恢复。 该项目的长期目标是评估 再生过程和皮层下结构的可能变化， 特别是脊髓背角对这些变化的反应。新开发 将采用单纤维记录和刺激程序， 检查：1）来自个体的特定感官输入如何表征 初级感觉传入神经由背侧和背侧两个群体处理。 角细胞接受来自单根纤维的输入， 背角神经元; 2）再生过程的特异性（例如， 再生的纤维是否会重新支配 （最初的神经支配）; 3)神经再支配对中枢神经系统的影响 在恢复期间处理这些已识别的输入。 这些信息将有助于识别那些可以 有助于感觉输入中断后的恢复。一旦 这些过程可以进一步研究，以确定是否 某些操作可以增强其功效。

Reinnervation of peripheral receptors following peripheral nerve lesions results in a variety of sensory deficits. These include a decrease in general sensory acuity and the loss of the ability to correctly localize peripheral stimuli. Other common symptoms include several hypersensitivity reactions such as, Hyperesthesia, Dysesthesia, Hyperalgesia and Causalgia which can be very disabling to individuals. Although some of these deficits can be permanent, others can be reversed following reinnervation of peripheral receptors. Recent studies in primates have demonstrated that reinnervation following peripheral nerve transection elicits organizational changes in the somatosensory cortex. It has been suggested that these organizational changes may parallel in some manner the clinically observed recovery from sensory deficits following these lesions. The long term objective of this project is to assess the contributions of the regenerative process and possible changes in subcortical structures, specifically the spinal dorsal horn, to these changes. Newly developed single fiber recording and stimulation procedures will be employed to examine: 1) how specific sensory inputs from individual characterized primary sensory afferents are processed by both the population of dorsal horn cells receiving input from single fibers and by individual identified dorsal horn neurons; 2) the specificity of the regenerative process (e.g. do regenerating fibers reinnervate the same type of receptor they had originally innervated?); 3) the affect of reinnervation on the central processing of these identified inputs during the recovery period. This information will allow the identification of those processes which can contribute to the recovery seen after disruption of sensory inputs. Once identified, these processes can then be studied further to determine if certain manipulations could enhance their efficacy.