Elsevier

Brain Research

Volume 7, Issue 2, February 1968, Pages 208-220
Brain Research

Projection of tongue nerve afferents to somatic sensory area I in squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciureus)

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Abstract

The distribution of surface positive cortical potentials evoked by electrical stimulation of the three nerves innervating the tongue was mapped in deeply anesthetized squirrel monkeys. All projections were bilateral. In terms of extent of cortex activated, and the amplitude and latency of responses, the major projection of the two taste nerves (the chorda tympani and the lingual-tonsilar branch of the glossopharyngeal) was ipsilateral. The lingual nerve projections were bilaterally more symmetrical, but the shortest latencies were generated by contralateral stimulation. These laterality relationships were also found at the thalamic relay. All responses described in this report were confined to the appropriate part of the somatotopic pattern of somatic sensory area I, in the ipsi- and bilateral tactile representation of the intraoral structures. Complete bilateral ablation of the tongue nerve projection areas did not impair taste discrimination and did not cause retrograde degeneration of thalamic taste neurons. A subsequent study revealed a second taste nerve projection on opercular-insular cortex which, if included in the lesion, did result in complete degeneration of the thalamic taste relay. It was concluded that the taste system has only sustaining projections to S I of the squirrel monkey.

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*

Present address: Department of Physiology, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, N.Y., U.S.A.

**

Present address: Department of Surgery, University of Wisconsin Medical Center, Madison, Wis., U.S.A.

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