Early Hearing-Impairment Results in Crossmodal Reorganization of Ferret Core Auditory Cortex

Figure 6

Distribution of somatosensory receptive fields across the cortical mantle (gray matter) of core auditory cortex in early hearing-impaired ferrets. Segments of coronal sections through core auditory cortex (left) show the location of a particular recording penetration and the sensory responsiveness of the neurons identified (A = auditory, S = somatosensory; AS = auditory and somatosensory). To the right, the series of ferret body surface depictions indicate the location of the somatosensory receptive field (shaded dark gray) and depth (in microns) corresponding to the neuron and recording penetration plotted on the tissue section. These data show that somatosensory reorganization of core auditory cortex in early hearing impaired ferrets was robust across the fullthickness of the cortex, represented the anterior segment of the body, and was often bilateral (on the ipsi- and contralateral body surface).