Topic: somatosensory system

Animals swiftly react to environmental stimuli, with the involvement of the superior colliculus (SC). While the SC is playing a pivotal role in coordinating innate behaviors such as coordinating orientation and defense responses, its involvement in the somatosensory system remains relatively unexplored. Our recent research has unveiled the connectivity between mouse whisker-circuits and the SC, including pathways from the motor cortex (MC), barrel field of S1 (BC), and brainstem (Bs). Mapping the whisker-sensitive region of the SC in mice revealed a novel trans-collicular connectivity motif, w

Spinal cord injuries (SCI) often result in somatosensory system alterations and the development of chronic and neuropathic pain. Despite the availability of various treatments, pain remains refractory in many patients. In our study, we explore the potential benefits of powered exoskeleton training for individuals with SCI, focusing on its impact on tactile perception and neuropathic pain.Nineteen participants with traumatic SCI were recruited for our investigation. The lesion was below the T4 level for all participants. We evaluated changes using a computerized pressure algometer, the Numerica

Neuropathic pain is evoked by an injury to the somatosensory system at the peripheral or central nervous system level leading to direct changes in neuronal activity. Moreover, there is a large body of evidence that changes occurring in primary peripheral sensory neurons also alter secondary central circuits thus causing hyperalgesia and allodynia. The latter are hallmarks of neuropathic pain and recent work suggests that both of those sensory abnormalities depend on alterations in spinal dorsal horn circuits likely caused by a loss of local inhibition. However, the molecular mechanisms that le

While functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is very well established as a tool in neuroimaging and neurocognitive research, it is limited by a comparatively low temporal resolution (typically around one to two seconds). Here, we apply and improve a method, previously introduced by Nagy et al. (2023), which combines an event-related stimulation paradigm with subsequent data reordering. For this, we applied electrical median-nerve stimulation with temporal accuracy of the fMRI imaging slices. The application of the stimuli was timed to occur simultaneously with each slice once and the sli