The Study Of Cortical Functional Reorganization Of Foot And Genital Representation Of Somatosensory Cortex In Rhesus Monkey

Objective"The liver meridian flows around the genital area" is a typical representative of the principle of "the main indication of meridian is the disease of the area where it flows through" in the acupuncture theory.A large number of relevant clinical and experimental studies have shown that there is a specific connection between the foot and the genital area and the liver meridian."The liver meridian flows around the genital area"is a perfect combination between the theory of the specific connection of body surface along meridian and clinical practice,providing objective evidence for revealing the specificity of the connection between different body surface.Modern research has found that the specific relationship between the foot area and the genital area is more prominent under pathological conditions.Acupuncture points in the foot area may have important regulatory effects on dysfunction of the genital area.This may be an important biological mechanism of the acupoints of the acupoints.MethodsRats and rhesus monkeys were selected as the research objects.The single-electrode recording technology of the cortex was used to record the spontaneous activity of a single neuron or a group of neurons in the somatosensory cortex of the brain and perform some stimuli such as touch and acupuncture on foot area(where the liver meridian flows),genital area,trunk and tail.Draw cortical representative area of these body surface areas,and look for stimulation to the big toe area and genital area.Based on the results of the first part of the study(defining the somatic sensory map of the cerebral cortex of the liver and genitalia),the Tibial nerve that dominate the acupoints of the liver through the feet were removed to make the feet yin and liver.Sensory afferent through the acupoints of the feet,observe the changes in the foot and genital receptive field of the cerebral cortex 3b after the acupuncture of the feet through the acupoints of the liver,and explore the functional reorganization of the sensory cortex in the acupoint and genital areas of the cortex.This study is divided into two parts,acute and chronic experiments.The acute experiment mainly observes the changes between foot and genital areas of the somatosensory cortex and the reorganization within 24 hours of nerve resection.Immediate functional reorganization in acupoint and genital areas.The changes in the peripheral receptive field of neurons in the somatosensory cortex were observed at 3 weeks(rats)or 3 months(macaque monkeys)after nerve injury.Results(1)In rats,before the sensory afferent caused by peripheral sensory nerve injury,the neuronal activity induced by touching or stimulating the foot area and the genital area in the somatosensory cortex can be recorded,and map the somatosensory cortex.In addition to the bireceptive field neurons that respond to both foot and genital stimulation at the junction of the foot representative area and the genital representative area is recorded.(2)In rats,the representative area that originally responded to the stimulus of the toe area did not respond to the physical stimulation,and some of the original areas responds to genital stimuli after 3 weeks.As a result,the range of the genital representation area is wider than before the nerve damage;and the forelimb representation area also expands to the hindlimb representation area.(3)In rats,the representative area that originally responded to the stimulus of the genital area did not respond to the physical stimulation,and some of the original areas responds to toe stimuli after 3 weeks.As a result,the range of the toe representation area is wider than before the nerve damage;and the tail representation area also expands to the genital representation area.(4)In rhesus monkeys,before the sensory afferent caused by peripheral sensory nerve injury,the neuronal activity induced by touching or stimulating the foot area and the genital area in the somatosensory cortex can be recorded,and map the somatosensory cortex.In addition to the bireceptive field neurons that respond to both foot and genital stimulation at the junction of the foot representative area and the genital representative area is recorded.(5)In rhesus monkeys,the representative area that originally responded to the stimulus of the toe area did not respond to the physical stimulation,and some of the original areas responds to genital stimuli after 3 months.As a result,the range of the genital representation area is wider than before the nerve damage;and the forelimb representation area also expands to the hindlimb representation area.(6)In rhesus monkeys,the representative area that originally responded to the stimulus of the genital area did not respond to the physical stimulation,and some of the original areas responds to toe stimuli after 3 months.As a result,the range of the toe representation area is wider than before the nerve damage;and the tail representation area also expands to the genital representation area.ConclusionThere is a competitive activity-dependent interaction between cross-representation regions in the cerebral cortex,which can lead to functional reorganization of the foot and genital area.Acupuncture as stimulation at the acupoints of the liver meridian may have important regulatory effects.This may be a biological mechanism that may have a specific relationship between differenet body surface along the meridian(like foot toe and genitals).