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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 95/3/1451    most recent 00485.2005v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (2) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Sahai, V. Articles by Rowe, M. J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Sahai, V. Articles by Rowe, M. J.

Processing of Vibrotactile Inputs From Hairy Skin by Neurons of the Dorsal Column Nuclei in the Cat

Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, School of Medical Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

Submitted 11 May 2005; accepted in final form 23 November 2005

The capacity of single neurons of the dorsal column nuclei (DCN) for coding vibrotactile information from the hairy skin has been investigated in anesthetized cats to permit quantitative comparison first with the capacities of DCN neurons responding to glabrous skin vibrotactile inputs and second with those of spinocervical tract neurons responding to vibrotactile inputs from hairy skin. Dynamically sensitive tactile neurons of the DCN the input of which came from hairy skin could be divided into two classes, one associated with hair follicle afferent (HFA) input, the other with Pacinian corpuscle (PC) input. The HFA-related class was most sensitive to low-frequency (<50 Hz) vibration and had a graded response output as a function of vibrotactile intensity changes. PC-related neurons had a broader vibrotactile sensitivity, extending to 300 Hz and appeared to derive their input from the margins of hairy skin, near the footpads, or from deeper PC sources such as the interosseous membranes or joints. HFA-related neurons had phaselocked responses to vibration frequencies up to 75 Hz, whereas PC neurons retained this capacity up to frequencies of 300 Hz with tightest phaselocking between 50 and 200 Hz. Quantitative measures of phaselocking revealed that the HFA-related neurons provide the better signal of vibrotactile frequency up to 50 Hz with a switch-over to the PC-related neurons above that value. In conclusion, the functional capacities of these two classes of cuneate neuron appear to account for behavioral vibrotactile frequency discriminative performance in hairy skin, in contrast to the limited capacities of vibrotactile-sensitive neurons within the spinocervical tract system.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				D. A. Mahns, N. M. Perkins, V. Sahai, L. Robinson, and M. J. Rowe Vibrotactile Frequency Discrimination in Human Hairy Skin J Neurophysiol, March 1, 2006; 95(3): 1442 - 1450. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				V. Sahai, D. A. Mahns, N. M. Perkins, L. Robinson, and M. J. Rowe Vibrotactile Coding Capacities of Spinocervical Tract Neurons in the Cat J Neurophysiol, March 1, 2006; 95(3): 1465 - 1477. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]