Tactile impoverishment and sensorimotor restriction deteriorate the forepaw cutaneous map in the primary somatosensory cortex of adult rats.

We investigated the effects of sensory deprivation on the forepaw representation in the primary somatosensory cortex (SI) in the adult rat. Cortical maps were constructed from high-resolution multiunit recordings of the response of layer IV neurons to somatosensory stimuli. The main features of the forepaw representation were described in terms of areal extent and topography of the cortical map, and sensory submodality, size, and location of the receptive field (RF) of small clusters of the cortical neurons. After being weaned, two groups of Long-Evans rats were housed in a standard (SE) or impoverished (IE) environment for 65-115 days. A third group of SE rats was subjected to severe sensorimotor restriction (SR) of one forepaw for 7 days or 14 days, by using a one-sleeved cast. A concomitant effect of unilateral forelimb immobilization was a forced use of the nonrestricted forelimb in postural balance. The maps of both forepaws were derived 24 h after the cast was removed and the animal was allowed normal limb use. In a fourth group, SE rats experienced a 7-day immobilization followed by symmetrical limb use for 7 days before we mapped the hemisphere contralateral to the casted limb. For the SE and IE rats, the total areal extent of the cutaneous forepaw representation was similar, but IE rats exhibited a significant expansion of cortical islets serving high-threshold, presumably noncutaneous inputs, which were included in the cutaneous maps. In addition, SI neurons of IE rats had greatly enlarged glabrous, but not hairy, skin RFs. For the SR rats, the areal extent of the cutaneous map of the casted forepaw decreased by about 50%, after both 7- and 14-day forelimb immobilization. Large cortical sectors presumed to be formerly activated by cutaneous inputs were driven by high-threshold inputs that disrupted the somatotopic representation of the forepaw skin surfaces. These "emergent" representational sectors were topographically organized. By contrast, the areal extent and topography of the non-casted forepaw representation did not differ from those of SE rats. The size of glabrous RFs on the casted forepaw was similar to that of SE rats. On the contrary, glabrous RFs on the noncasted forepaw of SR rats were larger than those on their casted forepaw. The size of hairy RFs was not altered by the forelimb restriction. Interestingly, alteration of the somatotopic features of the casted forepaw map persisted after 7 days of symmetric use of the forelimbs. The present study demonstrates that continuous sensory experience is needed for the organizational features of SI maps to be maintained.