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. 2010 Feb 24;20(11):2739–2748. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhq022

Figure 3.

Figure 3.

Effects of site-specific depletion of basal forebrain cholinergic corticopetal inputs on behaviorally mediated cortical map reorganization. (A–F) Representative ICMS-derived motor maps demonstrating the effects of site-specific cholinergic lesions on plasticity of the caudal forelimb representation of the preferred hemisphere (CFA). Skilled forelimb training in vehicle-treated animals (B) resulted in the expansion of the caudal forelimb representation (yellow) relative to untrained controls (A). Focal depletion of cholinergic inputs to the motor cortex (D) completely blocked the behaviorally mediated expansion of the CFA, to the same extent as was observed following global cholinergic lesions (E). Focal depletion of either the PFC (C) or AUD (F) had no effect on the behaviorally mediated plasticity of the CFA. (G) Quantitative analysis of cortical plasticity across all animals confirms that training-mediated plasticity in the preferred hemisphere is blocked by either global cholinergic depletion or site-specific depletion of cholinergic inputs to the motor cortex, but behaviorally mediated plasticity was not altered by site-specific cholinergic depletion of PFC or AUD (overall ANOVA P < 0.0001; * indicated P < 0.001 relative to caged controls). (H) Skilled forelimb training in vehicle-treated animals also led to an expansion of the caudal forelimb area “within the primary motor cortex associated with the untrained limb (nonpreferred hemisphere).” As observed in the preferred hemisphere, plasticity is completely blocked following either global cholinergic depletion (P = 0.25 relative to caged controls) or site-specific depletion of cholinergic inputs to the motor cortex (P = 0.72 relative to caged controls), but behaviorally mediated plasticity was not altered by site-specific cholinergic depletion of PFC or AUD (overall ANOVA P < 0.001; * indicates P < 0.005 relative to caged controls). Yellow—forelimb; Red—vibrissa; Green—neck; Pink— jaw/tongue; Purple—hindlimb; Blue—shoulder; and Gray— unresponsive.