Transhemispheric functional reorganization of the motor cortex induced by the peripheral contralateral nerve transfer to the injured arm

Abstract

Peripheral nerve injury in a limb usually causes functional reorganization of the contralateral motor cortex. However, a dynamic process of the novel transhemispheric functional reorganization in the motor cortex was found in adult rats after transferring the seventh cervical nerve root from the contralateral healthy side to the injured limb. Initially the ipsilateral motor cortex activated the injured forepaw for 5 months after the operation. Then, both hemispheres of the cortex activated the injured forepaw, and finally the contralateral cortex exclusively controlled the injured forepaw. It is concluded an extensive functional shift occurred between two hemispheres based on neural plasticity in the CNS. The experimental results of the later lesions of the ipsilateral cortex suggest that maintaining transhemispheric functional reorganization does not depend on the corpus callosum, but depends on mechanisms involving central axonal sprouting. Possible mechanisms underlying the alternative changes in cortical functions were discussed in rats and in patients having similar operations.