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bioRxiv · 10.1101/599167

Within-finger maps of tactile and nociceptive input in the human parietal cortex

Mancini, F.·Sereno, M. I.·Lee, M.-H.·Iannetti, G. D.·Tracey, I.
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Abstract

The spatial representation of nociceptive input in the human parietal cortex is not fully understood. For instance, it is known that the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) contains a representation of nociceptive-selective input to different fingers, but it is unclear whether S1 subdivisions contain finer-grained, within-finger maps of nociceptive input. It is also unknown whether within-finger maps of somatosensory input exist in intraparietal regions. Therefore, we used high-field 7T functional MRI to reveal within-finger maps of nociceptive and tactile inputs in the human parietal cortex. Although we replicated the previous findings of between-finger maps of nociceptive input spanning S1 subdivisions, we found weak and inconsistent evidence for within-finger maps of nociceptive input in S1 subdivisions. In the same subjects, we found mirrored, within-finger maps of tactile input in areas 3a, 3b, and 1. Importantly, we discovered a within-finger map of nociceptive input, but not of tactile input, in the human intraparietal area 1 (hIP1). In conclusion, our study indicates that the spatial representation of nociceptive input in the parietal cortex partly differs from that of tactile input and reports the discovery of a within-finger map of nociceptive input in hIP1.\n\nNew & NoteworthyWe report the discovery of a fine-grained map of nociceptive input to finger segments in the human intraparietal area 1.

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Mancini, F., Sereno, M. I., Lee, M.-H., Iannetti, G. D., Tracey, I.. 2019-04-04. Within-finger maps of tactile and nociceptive input in the human parietal cortex. https://doi.org/10.1101/599167

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