Remodeling of dorsal column nuclear efferents to the basilar pontine gray after cortical ablations in newborn rats.

In view of previous reports documenting corticopontine remodeling in response to neonatal cerebral cortical lesions, we examined possible alterations of ascending pontine afferents from the dorsal column nuclei after the same types of neonatal lesion. Two anterograde tracing techniques, autoradiography and the Fink-Heimer silver degeneration method, were combined to facilitate a topographic analysis. The distribution patterns of cuneo- and gracilopontine terminations appeared expanded in response to neonatal sensorimotor cortical lesions, as compared to non-lesioned animals.