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Stop Animal Exploitation NOW!
S. A. E. N.
"Exposing the truth to wipe out animal experimentation"

Government Grants Promoting Cruelty to Animals

Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN

JON H. KAAS- Primate Testing - 2006

Grant Number: 5R01NS016446-26
Project Title: Functional Organization of the Somatosensory System
PI Information: PROFESSOR JON H. KAAS,  [email protected] 

Abstract: DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant):
The broad objectives of this research program are to determine the normal organization of sensory and motor systems in primates, how these systems process sensory information, and how they respond to damage. Aim 1. We will use microelectrode recordings to identify representations of the teeth and tongue in area 31, 3b, and 1 of monkey somatosensory cortex, place injections of tracers in these representations, and reveal much of the cortical network for processing information from these structures. This network is only partly known, and yet proper food evaluation and processing are critically important to human health. Aim 2. Microstimulation experiments in posterior parietal cortex suggest that this cortex contains a number of distinct subregions where different ethologically relevant movement patterns can be evoked. We will use microstimulation to define these regions in monkeys, and inject tracers into these regions and presumptive targets to determine their connections with higher order sensory areas and to motor and premotor areas in monkeys. An understanding of this system would promote an understanding of how such regions function and malfunction in humans. Aim 3. We will use chronically embedded microelectrode arrays to intensively study the response properties of neurons in somatosensory hand cortex (3a, 3b, 1) of monkeys, with an emphasis on the interactions of effects of stimuli within and outside the minimal receptive field. The results will reveal contextual effects that are at the roots of form and object perception, and highly relevant to somatosensory processing in humans. Aim 4. The integrity and plasticity of somatosensory and motor representations will be evaluated with microelectrode recordings and microstimulation after recoveries from high cervical dorsal column lesions in the spinal cords of neonatal and mature monkeys. Chronically embedded electrode arrays in somatosensory cortex will evaluate the response properties of reactivated neurons. Injections of tracers into motor cortex will reveal any alterations in corticospinal projection patterns. Microstimulation experiments will reveal possible alterations in the functional organization of motor cortex as a result of sensory deprivation. These experiments will reveal the types of reorganization that occur in mature and developing systems after massive sensory loss. Results may lead to more effective post-injury treatments for humans with spinal cord injury.

Thesaurus Terms:
neural information processing, neuroanatomy, sensorimotor system, somesthetic sensory cortex dorsal column, head movement, limb movement, motor cortex, neural plasticity, neuron, parietal lobe /cortex, tongue, tooth Aotus, Macaca fascicularis, Macaca mulatta, charge coupled device camera, microelectrode

Institution: VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
Medical Center, NASHVILLE, TN 372036869
Fiscal Year: 2006
Department: PSYCHOLOGY
Project Start: 01-JUL-1980
Project End: 31-JUL-2009
ICD: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS AND STROKE
IRG: SCS

Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science. 2000;41:4022-4031

Binocular Cross-Orientation Suppression in the Primary Visual Cortex (V1) of Infant Rhesus Monkeys

Minoru Endo1,2, Jon H. Kaas3, Neeragi Jain3, Earl L. Smith, III1 and Yuzo Chino1

1From the College of Optometry, University of Houston, Houston, Texas; and 2Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee.

Subjects and Surgical Preparation
The preparation and recording methods have been described in detail elsewhere.8 12 The ages of the infant monkeys (Macaca mulatta) at the time of recording experiments were 1 (n = 3), 2 (n = 2), 4 (n = 2), or 8 weeks (n = 2). The monkeys were anesthetized initially with an intramuscular injection of ketamine hydrochloride (15�20 mg/kg) and acepromazine maleate (0.15�0.2 mg/kg), and a superficial vein was cannulated. All subsequent surgical procedures, including a tracheotomy and a small craniotomy and durotomy over the operculum of V1, were carried out under sodium thiopental anesthesia (2.5% solution). Each animal was given an initial injection of between 10 and 15 mg/kg. During the surgical procedures small amounts of the anesthetic were given every 5 to 10 minutes to maintain a deep level of anesthesia, that is, the corneal blink reflex and the withdrawal reflex produced by a paw-pad pinch were completely suppressed. After all surgical procedures, the animals were paralyzed by an intravenous (i.v.) infusion of pancuronium bromide (a loading dose of 0.1�0.2 mg/kg, followed by a continuous infusion at the rate of 0.1 to 0.2 mg/kg/h). The animals were artificially respired with a mixture of 59% N2O, 39% O2, and 2% CO2 to maintain an end-tidal CO2 between 4.0% and 4.5%. The core body temperature of the monkeys was kept at 37.6�C. Throughout the recording session, the anesthesia was monitored and maintained by the continuous i.v. infusion of sodium pentobarbital (2�4 mg/kg/h). Cycloplegia was produced by 1% atropine sulfate, and the animal�s corneas were protected with rigid, gas permeable, extended-wear contact lenses. Retinoscopy was used to determine the contact lens parameters required to focus the eyes on the stimulus screens.

Please email:  JON H. KAAS, [email protected] to protest the inhumane use of animals in this experiment. We would also love to know about your efforts with this cause: [email protected]

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Rats, mice, birds, amphibians and other animals have been excluded from coverage by the Animal Welfare Act. Therefore research facility reports do not include these animals. As a result of this situation, a blank report, or one with few animals listed, does not mean that a facility has not performed experiments on non-reportable animals. A blank form does mean that the facility in question has not used covered animals (primates, dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, pigs, sheep, goats, etc.). Rats and mice alone are believed to comprise over 90% of the animals used in experimentation. Therefore the majority of animals used at research facilities are not even counted.

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