Brain : a journal of neurology
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Review Comparative Study
Potentials evoked in human and monkey cerebral cortex by stimulation of the median nerve. A review of scalp and intracranial recordings.
Somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) are generated in afferent pathways, subcortical structures and various regions of cerebellar and cerebral cortex by stimulation of somatic receptors or electrical stimulation of peripheral nerves. This review summarizes current knowledge of SEPs generated in cerebral cortex by stimulation of the median nerve, the most common form of stimulation for human research and clinical investigations. Major sources of data for the review are intracranial recordings obtained from patients during diagnostic or neurosurgical procedures, and similar recordings in monkeys. ⋯ Old World monkeys such as Macaca mulatta and M. fascicularis provide an excellent model for human short-latency SEPs. All the potentials described above in humans have corresponding monkey analogues, with similar distributions over the cortical surface. The squirrel monkey, a New World species, exhibits the same potentials, but due to the different morphology of sensorimotor cortex, the surface distribution of SEPs is quite different.