1. In previous papers we have demonstrated that most single neurons in the face primary somatosensory cortex (SI) alter their firing rate during a trained tongue-protrusion task and some also during a trained biting task. Although the data suggest that some of the task-related activity in face SI might conceivably come from reafferent inputs from moving orofacial structures, it is possible that orofacial inputs are modulated during the trained orofacial movements. This study was initiated to investigate the possible modulation of evoked orofacial somatosensory responses of face SI neurons during trained tongue-protrusion and biting tasks. 2. Two monkeys were trained to perform a tongue-protrusion and a biting task and to accept stimulation applied to the facial skin or the lingual nerve during the tasks. For SI neurons with a tongue mechanoreceptive field (RF), electrical stimulation was applied to the lingual nerve to elicit neuronal activity; for SI neurons with a RF at the other locations, electrical or mechanical stimulation was applied to the RF to elicit neuronal activity. Modulation of neuronal activity evoked by low-threshold stimulation of the RF was tested, during the tongue-protrusion and/or biting tasks, in 44 face SI neurons and an additional 3 forelimb SI neurons with a palm RF (palm RF neurons). The 44 face SI neurons included 13 with a tongue RF (tongue RF neurons), 29 with a lip RF (lip RF neurons), and 2 with a lateral face RF (face RF neurons). 3. For face SI neurons tested during both force dynamic and holding phases of the task period, the evoked activity (i.e., the number of evoked spikes in 50 ms after the onset of stimulation) was decreased in at least one of the two phases for the majority (90%) of 31 neurons studied during the tongue-protrusion task and 61% of 23 studied during the biting task. The proportion of neurons modulated during the tongue-protrusion task was significantly higher than that during the biting task. For the 18 face SI tested during both tasks, a decrease in evoked activity occurred in 10 lip RF neurons for both tasks and in the remaining 5 lip RF and 3 tongue RF neurons for the tongue-protrusion task only. No neurons tested showed a clear facilitation of evoked activity during the task period of either task.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Intraoperative Intrinsic Optical Imaging of Neuronal Activity from Subdivisions of the Human Primary Somatosensory Cortex