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Is areal extent in sensory cerebral cortex determined by peripheral innervation density?

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Summary

The whisker-to-barrel pathway of mice (an important component of the animal's somatosensory system) was studied in two experiments. In one, the cortical representation of a row of whiskers was caused to be larger by lesioning a neighbouring row of follicles, while the innervation density remained unchanged. In the second experiment mice, selectively bred for particular whisker and barrel patterns, showed for their supernumerary vibrissal follicles a relatively large cortical representation. On the basis of the second experiment we formulate a possible role of the sensory periphery in brain evolution.

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Welker, E., Van der Loos, H. Is areal extent in sensory cerebral cortex determined by peripheral innervation density?. Exp Brain Res 63, 650–654 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00237487

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00237487

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