Functional Organization of Interzonal Transcallosal Connections in the Sensorimotor Cortex

Abstract

Transcallosal evoked potentials (EP) in cat sensorimotor cortex, arising in response to stimulation of the visual or auditory zone of an opposite hemisphere, were investigated. Interzonal transcallosal responses (TCR) were shown to be present along the entire surface of the sensorimotor cortex. Videomotor EPs were mainly in the form of responses with initial negativity. The latent periods of audiomotor EPs were longer than those of videomotor EPs. Negative-positive videomotor responses had greater amplitudes as compared to the amplitudes of synphasic or audiomotor EPs. Responses with initial positivity, on the contrary, had greater amplitudes during Field AI stimulation than they had during the stimulation of Field 19. Interzonal transcallosal responses in MI zone were characterized by interhemispheric asymmetry. In a per-pair comparison of the amplitudes of response components, individual asymmetry was revealed for videomotor EPs. Audiomotor responses in the majority of investigated animals were of greater magnitude in the left hemisphere. The left hemisphere dominance for audiomotor EPs was mainly observed in females, whereas in males the asymmetry revealed was individual. It is suggested that the peculiarities of the interhemispheric asymmetry of interzonal audio- and videomotor functional transcallosal connections are determined by specificity of the intrazonal asymmetry of transcallosal streams in projection and association cortical areas.

Key Words:

• interzonal transcallosal responses
• functional interhemispheric asymmetry
• sensorimotor cortex