Neocortex information processing after stroke induction

Abstract: How the brain processes all the incoming information it receives is still an unanswered question, and many different theories about how it is done exist. This thesis expands on one of these theories which views the brain's information processing as a widely distributed network phenomena, which contradicts the currently most popular hierarchical theory consisting of areas dedicated to processing specific types of information in a hierarchical manner. Here we addressed the issue by recording the responses of individual neocortical neurons to a repeatable battery of tactile stimulation patterns in the anesthetized rat in vivo. By investigating the potential changes in the responses to direct current (DC) stimulation of cortical areas with a remote location to the recorded neuron, we aimed to get an indication about the distributed nature of processing of tactile information. The effects of the applied DC was also studied in order to see if it could be used as a new and reversible model for stroke induction. The DC stimulation was associated with a statistically significant effect on the responses to the tactile stimulation patterns. The precise nature of those changes remains unanswered, though, and further research needs to be performed in order to find the answer to that question. However, the results support a distributed network processing of the brain’s information processing.