Figure 3
Effects of postnatal sensorimotor restriction (SMR) on the musculotopic organization of the motor representation of hind limb movements in control and SMR rats. (A) Illustration of movements of different hind limb joints elicited by intracortical stimulation. The color code for movements of each joint corresponds to motor map sectors devoted to the corresponding movement. (B) Typical motor hind limb maps in two representative control rats. Note the patchy representation of hind limb movements and the lack of musculotopy of M1 maps. (C) Motor maps of hind limb movements in two representative SMR rats. Note the reduction of the extent of the M1 map after SMR, concomitant to a decrease in the overall threshold needed to evoke movements, changes plotted in (D and E), respectively. (D) Plots of the areal extent of the different subparts of motor hind limb maps in absolute areas (mm²; left Y axis), or relative areas of joint movements normalized to the total area of the hind limb motor map (%, right Y axis). (E) Plots of the motor thresholds (µA) that correspond to the minimal current needed to evoke a leg joint movement. Mean + SD. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01, significantly different from controls.
