The effects of long-standing limb loss on anatomical reorganization of the somatosensory afferents in the brainstem and spinal cord

Abstract

We examined the terminations of sensory afferents in the brainstem and spinal cord of squirrel monkeys and prosimian galagos 4-8 years after a therapeutic forelimb or hindlimb amputation within 2 months of birth. In each animal, the distributions of labeled sensory afferent terminations from remaining body parts proximal to the limb stump were much more extensive than in normal animals. These sprouted afferents extended into the portions of the dorsal horn of the spinal cord as well as the cuneate and external cuneate nuclei of the brainstem (forelimb amputees) or spinal Clarke's column (hindlimb amputee) related to the amputated limb. Such reorganization in sensory afferents along with reorganization of the motor efferents to muscles (Wu and Kaas, J Neurosci 19 : 7679-7697, 1999, Neuron 28 : 967-978, 2000) may provide a basis for mislocated phantom sensations of missing forelimb movements accompanying actual shoulder movements during cortical stimulation or movement imagery in patients with amputations.