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Comparative Study
. 2005 Oct 10;491(1):27-45.
doi: 10.1002/cne.20686.

Loss and recovery of voluntary hand movements in the macaque following a cervical dorsal rhizotomy

Corinna Darian-Smith  1 , Melanie M Ciferri
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Loss and recovery of voluntary hand movements in the macaque following a cervical dorsal rhizotomy

Corinna Darian-Smith et al. J Comp Neurol. .

Abstract

The recovery of manual dexterity was analyzed in the macaque following a cervical dorsal root section that abolished cutaneous feedback from selected digits of one hand. Monkeys were trained to retrieve a _target object from a clamp using thumb and index finger opposition. Dorsal rootlets containing electrophysiologically identified axons projecting from the thumb and index finger were then cut in two monkeys (Group 1). In four others (Group 2), additional rootlets shown to innervate the middle finger and thenar eminence were also transected. Three performance parameters were analyzed before and following the rhizotomy: 1) percentage of successful retrievals; 2) digital stratagem (the pattern of digit opposition); and 3) contact time (duration of digit contact with the object before its retrieval). During the first postoperative week, hand function was severely impaired in all monkeys. Over the following weeks, Group 1 monkeys recovered the ability to retrieve the object by opposing the index finger and thumb in >80% of trials. Group 2 monkeys also regained some function in the impaired hand: each monkey adopted a stratagem for grasping the _target, using digits that were incompletely deafferented. In the terminal experiment, hand representation in the contralateral somatosensory cortex was electrophysiologically mapped to define hand deafferentation and cortical reactivation further. There was a close correspondence between the cortical map and digit use. Our data imply that the recovery of precision grip using the thumb and index finger depends on the survival of afferents innervating these digits, as well as the proliferation of their central terminals.

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