# Consequences of Developmental Defects in Somatosensory Map formation

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE · 2021 · $496,277

## Abstract

Summary
The whisker-barrel system of mice is a popular neurobiological model for studies of neural mechanisms of pattern
formation in the brain, activity-dependent refinement of connections, experience and use-dependent plasticity of
cortical circuits, and sensory and cognitive deficits in mouse models of neurodevelopmental and disorders. One
of the features that makes this system very attractive is that the patterned array of whiskers on the snout is
represented by neural models at several levels of the somatosensory pathway. Over the past several decades,
numerous studies demonstrated the importance of the sensory periphery and the intrinsic molecular cues of the
thalamus and cortex in patterning of this system. We have been working on a unique mutant mouse model,
where the periphery is intact, thalamic and cortical cues are intact but the ascending somatosensory pathway
between the brainstem and thalamus is disrupted, leading to bilateral whisker map and pattern formation in the
thalamus and cortex. Our studies during the current funding period revealed several morphological and
behavioral phenotypes in this mouse line.
 Our continuation studies will have three aims:
1. To complete circuit mapping along the thalamocortical and corticocortical pathways in mice with
trigeminothalamic axon guidance defects in the brainstem. We ask the following questions: How does the bifacial
map in the SI cortex affect S1-M1 (primary motor cortex) and callosal connections?
2. To determine functional organization of “bifacial” responses in areas downstream of S1, and consequences
on perceptual behavior. We will record electrophysiologically in vivo across cortical layers using 64-channel
laminar silicon probe arrays. We will next conduct cellular-resolution calcium imaging from wM1 in awake mice
to map downstream cortical consequences of the bifacial map. We will test the Krox20cre/Robo3lox/lox mice for
whisker discrimination tasks with optogenetic silencing to probe brain’s use of bifacial map.
3. To determine the operating rules of critical period plasticity in this bifacial system. We ask the following
questions: What are the characteristics of critical period plasticity in bilateral cortical maps in response to injury
or sensory deprivation? How does unilateral sensory deprivation affect each of the maps in the cortex?

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10110032
- **Project number:** 5R01NS084818-07
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE
- **Principal Investigator:** Reha S Erzurumlu
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $496,277
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2014-02-01 → 2025-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10110032

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10110032, Consequences of Developmental Defects in Somatosensory Map formation (5R01NS084818-07). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10110032. Licensed CC0.

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