Orofacial somatomotor responses in the macaque monkey homologue of Broca's area

In the ventrolateral frontal lobe of the human brain there is a distinct entity, cytoarchitectonic area 44 (Broca's area), which is crucial in speech production. There has been controversy over whether monkeys possess an area comparable to human area 44. We have addressed this question in the macaque monkey by combining quantitative architectonic analysis of the cortical areas within the ventrolateral frontal region with electrophysiological recording of neuron activity and electrical intracortical microstimulation. Here we show that, immediately in front of the ventral part of the agranular premotor cortical area 6, there is a distinct cortical area that is architectonically comparable to human area 44 and that this monkey area 44 is involved with the orofacial musculature. We suggest that area 44 might have evolved originally as an area exercising high-level control over orofacial actions, including those related to communicative acts, and that, in the human brain, area 44 eventually also came to control certain aspects of the speech act.     

Segregation of pathways leading from area V2 to areas V4 and V5 of macaque monkey visual cortex

V5 and V4 are areas of macaque monkey prestriate visual cortex that are specialized for involvement in different aspects of visual perception, namely motion for V5 (refs 1-4) and colour vision, with other possible functions, for V4 (refs 2, 5-9). Thus, it is unlikely that they should be fed the same information for further processing, yet both receive a strong input from patches of the upper layers of V2 (refs 10, 11), the area immediately adjoining the primary visual cortex, V1. V2, however, seems to comprise functionally distinct subregions, which can be revealed by staining the tissue for the mitochondrial enzyme cytochrome oxidase. Here we report that V4 and V5 are connected with separate cytochrome oxidase-defined subregions of V2, suggesting that cortical pathways dealing with motion and colour perception are segregated in their passage through V2, and reinforcing evidence for functional specialization in the visual cortex.     

恒河猴和食蟹猴在结核病研究中的应用进展

摘要: 结核病是由结核分枝杆菌引起的慢性消耗性传染病,位居单一病原体引起死亡的严重传染病之首。结核病 历史悠久,对其记录可以追溯到远古社会。人类同结核病进行了数个世纪艰苦卓绝的斗争,然而,时至今日,结核 病仍是严重危害公众健康的全球性公共卫生问题。因此,研发有效的抗结核疫苗和药物迫在眉睫,而开展这些工 作需要合适的实验动物模型。由于非人灵长类动物在解剖结构、生理生化、免疫和代谢等生物学特性方面与人类 高度相似,应用非人灵长类实验动物对结核病的发病机制、机体免疫反应及相关疫苗和药物的深入研究至关重要, 甚至是不可替代的。本文着重就恒河猴和食蟹猴在人类结核病防治方面的研究进展进行综述。     

SIVmac感染食蟹猴、恒河猴的外周血血象观察

目的　比较SIVmac感染的食蟹猴、恒河猴外周血粒系统变化情况。方法　常规方法进行白细胞 (WBC)和白细胞分类计数 (WBC .DC)。结果　感染了SIVmac的恒河猴、食蟹猴其外周血粒系统变化与人类AIDS外周血变化相似 ,显现规律性的白细胞数量、形态变化。感染SIVmac病毒两周后 ,恒河猴、食蟹猴的白细胞总数开始下降 ,异型淋巴细胞数开始上升 ,随后白细胞总数持续回升至高峰 ,8周后白细胞总数及异型淋巴细胞数下降 ,其中三只食蟹猴先后于 8周后死于病毒血症和早期死亡 ,余 1只猴白细胞总数于 12周后仍持续下降。结论　本文中描述的现象同人类HIV AIDS的诊断标准实验检查部分中提及的基本一致。另外 ,本实验还表明恒河猴、食蟹猴对SIVmac毒株的实验感染是敏感的 ,食蟹猴对SIVmac更敏感     

Feature-based attention influences motion processing gain in macaque visual cortex.

Changes in neural responses based on spatial attention have been demonstrated in many areas of visual cortex, indicating that the neural correlate of attention is an enhanced response to stimuli at an attended location and reduced responses to stimuli elsewhere. Here we demonstrate non-spatial, feature-based attentional modulation of visual motion processing, and show that attention increases the gain of direction-selective neurons in visual cortical area MT without narrowing the direction-tuning curves. These findings place important constraints on the neural mechanisms of attention and we propose to unify the effects of spatial location, direction of motion and other features of the attended stimuli in a 'feature similarity gain model' of attention.     

Continuous subcellular resolution three-dimensional imaging on intact macaque brain

To decipher the organizational logic of complex brain circuits,it is important to chart long-distance path-ways while preserving micron-level accuracy of local ...     

A spatially organized representation of colour in macaque cortical area V2

Neurons responding selectively to different colours have been found in various cortical areas in macaque monkeys; however, little is known about whether and how the representation of colour is spatially organized in any cortical area. Cortical area V2 contains modules that respond preferentially to chromatic modulation, which are located in thin cytochrome oxidase stripes. Here we show that within and beyond these modules, gratings of different colours produce activations that peak at different locations. Optical recording of intrinsic signals revealed that the peak regions of the responses to different colours were spatially organized in the same order as colour stimuli are arranged in the DIN (German standard colour chart) colour system. Nearby regions represented colours of a similar hue. We found that the set of colour-specific regions formed 0.07-0.32-mm-wide and approximately 1.3-mm long bands that varied in shape from linear to nearly circular. Our finding suggests that thin stripes in V2 contain functional maps where the colour of a stimulus is represented by the location of its response activation peak.     

Fission in a free-ranging Tibetan macaque troop at Huangshan Mountain, China

Although troop fission is a rare event, it does occur in provisioned or wild troops. Such fission, from the ecological viewpeint, results from the population growth which exceeds the carrying capacity of its ranging area, and, from the sociological viewpoint, from the loose social relations among troop members.     

猴脑缺血模型的脑电图验证

目的用脑电图(electroencephalogram,EEG).验证猴的脑缺血模型.方法恒河猴10只随机分为2组,4VO组4只,2VO组4只;假手术组2只,阻断血管前后描记脑电图,以脑电图出现直线波、平坦波作为衡量脑缺血程度的指标.结果4VO组出现电静息,脑电图成一直线;2VO组波幅明显降低,由α节律变为平坦波,接近一条直线.4VO及2VO组均有慢波增多,假手术组无变化.结论脑电图变化是衡量脑缺血程度和速度的灵敏指标,用脑电图变化评价脑缺血简单;可靠;易行;有实用价值     

Lack of long-term cortical reorganization after macaque retinal lesions

Several aspects of cortical organization are thought to remain plastic into adulthood, allowing cortical sensorimotor maps to be modified continuously by experience. This dynamic nature of cortical circuitry is important for learning, as well as for repair after injury to the nervous system. Electrophysiology studies suggest that adult macaque primary visual cortex (V1) undergoes large-scale reorganization within a few months after retinal lesioning, but this issue has not been conclusively settled. Here we applied the technique of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to detect changes in the cortical topography of macaque area V1 after binocular retinal lesions. fMRI allows non-invasive, in vivo, long-term monitoring of cortical activity with a wide field of view, sampling signals from multiple neurons per unit cortical area. We show that, in contrast with previous studies, adult macaque V1 does not approach normal responsivity during 7.5 months of follow-up after retinal lesions, and its topography does not change. Electrophysiology experiments corroborated the fMRI results. This indicates that adult macaque V1 has limited potential for reorganization in the months following retinal injury.