Metabolic labeling associated with index finger stimulation in monkey SI: between animal variability

Four monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) were stimulated with an identical intermittent vertical displacement (flutter) stimulus on the tip of the index finger and received intravenous [14C]2-deoxyglucose (2-DG). The majority of metabolic labeling was found to exist in areas 3b and 1 of the anterior parietal cortex (SI) in the form of intermittent patches, which extended vertically across the cortical laminae. When the patches were traced through adjacent sections and reconstructed to produce a 2-dimensional map, it became evident that the patches of label combined to form a complex spatial pattern consisting of strips. Although the flutter stimulus was applied to a spatially restricted peripheral field, the metabolic pattern was always complex and widely distributed within SI. Nevertheless, the 2-DG patterns produced in the different animals stimulated with the same stimulus were strikingly similar. The relationships between descriptions of the SI index finger representation based on neurophysiological mapping data and the distribution of 2-DG uptake are described. The reproducibility of the 2-DG labeling pattern and relationship to neurophysiological maps suggests that the 2-DG mapping method provides a potent and useful tool for the investigation of stimulus representation in the somatosensory cortex.