Brain lesions incurred early in life produce a different brain from that reached after normal development. The lesion-induced modifications are specific & ordered and they contribute to sparing of cognitive processes that are severely handicapped by equivalent lesions incurred by the mature brain. The long-term goal is to identify classes of spared functions and the structures contributing to them.
The specific aim of the proposed work is to test the two component hypothesis that: 1) cognitive functions are spared by early lesions of areas 17 & 18, & 2) the contributions to cognition made by middle suprasylvian (MS) cortex, in the parietal region, and by ventral posterior suprasylvian (vPS) cortex, in the temporal region, differ from contributions the same regions make to cognition & behavior in the intact brain. Normally these two regions make clearly discriminable, and non-overlapping, contributions to cognition of space & action, and to learning, memory & recognition of forms. Studies will be carried out on mature cats that incurred damage of areas 17 & 18 on P1, P28, and in adulthood (P180), and normative data will be collected from intact cats. After extensive training on a battery of behavioral tasks designed to define the magnitude of the cognitive sparing, cooling loops will be implanted to temporarily deactivate MS or vPS cortices and assess the contributions the two regions make to the spectrum of spared functions. The behavioral tasks will reveal: 1) classes of spared cognitive functions; 2) age dependent differences in sparing; 3) whether remaining MS & vPS regions adopt functions normally associated with areas 17 & 18; & 4) whether functions normally localized to either MS or vPS cortices become dispersed, as substantial rewirings suggest. The work will provide detailed information on the capacities of the immature cerebral cortex to compensate for cognitive functions severely handicapped following equivalent damage of the mature cerebrum. The identification of these capacities is important for comprehending the spectrum of consequences of early cerebral cortical damage, and for developing therapeutic strategies that attempt to enhance the sparing of cognitive functions.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01NS033975-07
Application #
6742411
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-BDCN-5 (01))
Program Officer
Babcock, Debra J
Project Start
1996-04-19
Project End
2007-03-31
Budget Start
2004-04-01
Budget End
2007-03-31
Support Year
7
Fiscal Year
2004
Total Cost
$407,500
Indirect Cost
Name
Boston University
Department
Anatomy/Cell Biology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
604483045
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02118
O'Brien, Anthony T; Amorim, Rivadavio; Rushmore, R Jarrett et al. (2016) Motor Cortex Neurostimulation Technologies for Chronic Post-stroke Pain: Implications of Tissue Damage on Stimulation Currents. Front Hum Neurosci 10:545
Wolfe, Benjamin; Rushmore, Richard J; Valero-Cabre, Antoni (2010) Coping with spatial attention in real space: a low-cost portable testing system for the investigation of visuo-spatial processing in the human brain. J Neurosci Methods 187:190-8
Macneil, Margaret A; Purrier, Sheryl; Rushmore, R Jarrett (2009) The composition of the inner nuclear layer of the cat retina. Vis Neurosci 26:365-74
Cattaneo, Zaira; Silvanto, Juha; Pascual-Leone, Alvaro et al. (2009) The role of the angular gyrus in the modulation of visuospatial attention by the mental number line. Neuroimage 44:563-8
Cattaneo, Zaira; Silvanto, Juha; Pascual-Leone, Alvaro et al. (2009) The middle range of the number line orients attention to the left side of visual space. Cogn Neuropsychol 26:235-46
Wagner, Tim; Rushmore, Jarrett; Eden, Uri et al. (2009) Biophysical foundations underlying TMS: setting the stage for an effective use of neurostimulation in the cognitive neurosciences. Cortex 45:1025-34
Wagner, Tim; Eden, Uri; Fregni, Felipe et al. (2008) Transcranial magnetic stimulation and brain atrophy: a computer-based human brain model study. Exp Brain Res 186:539-50
Valero-Cabre, Antoni; Pascual-Leone, Alvaro; Rushmore, Richard J (2008) Cumulative sessions of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) build up facilitation to subsequent TMS-mediated behavioural disruptions. Eur J Neurosci 27:765-74
Rushmore, R Jarrett; Rigolo, Laura; Peer, Amanda K et al. (2008) Age-dependent sparing of visual function after bilateral lesions of primary visual cortex. Behav Neurosci 122:1274-83
Silvanto, Juha; Muggleton, Neil; Walsh, Vincent (2008) State-dependency in brain stimulation studies of perception and cognition. Trends Cogn Sci 12:447-54

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