Elsevier

Brain Research

Volume 824, Issue 1, 3 April 1999, Pages 140-145
Brain Research

Short communication
Effects of functional disruption of lateral pericentral cerebral cortex on primate swallowing

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0006-8993(99)01151-8Get rights and content

Abstract

Bilateral cold block of the intracortical microstimulation (ICMS)-defined swallow cortex markedly affected the ability of monkeys to carry out swallowing. Significant changes also occurred in swallow-related electromyographic (EMG) activity patterns. These findings provide further evidence that the lateral pericentral cortex plays a critical role in the initiation and regulation of swallowing in the primate.

Section snippets

Features of swallowing before cortical cold block

The animals readily accepted and ingested both the solid foodstuff and the liquid bolus over the experimental period. Swallow events regularly occurred when the animals swallowed the solid bolus during or after it had been masticated or when they swallowed the liquid bolus after sucking the juice. The incidence of swallowing over this period was consistent between the different swallow conditions (i.e., related to mastication or sucking), and varied between 77–100% of the trials in which the

Effects of cortical cold block

Reversible cold block of the ICMS-defined CMA/swallow cortex and most lateral aspect of face MI markedly reduced the occurrence of swallowing and modified several of the EMG parameters of swallowing behavior associated with mastication of the solid bolus or sucking the liquid bolus. These effects were reproducible between different sessions and occurred in both monkeys, although there were some differences between the two monkeys in the actual changes that were manifested.

In one of the monkeys

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the technical assistance of D. Lindsay, S. Carter and K. MacLeod, and the secretarial services of F. Yuen and S. Bajcer. The research was supported by Canadian M.R.C. Grant MT-4918 to B.J.S.; D.Y. was supported by a M.R.C. Fellowship.

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    Present address: Nihon University School of Dentistry, Matsudo, Chiba 271, Japan.

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