Ipsilateral and bilateral receptive fields in rat primary somatosensory cortex

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Abstract
The activity of single neurones evoked by electrical stimulation of the paws was recorded from the central forepaw and hindpaw receptive fields of the primary somatosensory cortex (Sm1) in anaesthetized rats. In the forepaw receptive area (FRA), 44% of neurones showed pyramidal responses to stimulation of their central receptive fields (CRF) compared with 13% of neurones in the hindpaw receptive area (HRA). The neurones were located primarily in layers IV and V. A number of neurones in superficial layers of the hindpaw region, but not in the forepaw region, had either bilateral or exclusively ipsilateral receptive fields. It was concluded that neurones with bilateral hindpaw receptive fields form a separate population of neurones which are organized somatopically.