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01-11-2014 | Original Article

Left hemispheric dominance of vestibular processing indicates lateralization of cortical functions in rats

Authors: Christoph Best, Elena Lange, Hans-Georg Buchholz, Mathias Schreckenberger, Stefan Reuss, Marianne Dieterich

Published in: Brain Structure and Function | Issue 6/2014

Abstract

Lateralization of cortical functions such as speech dominance, handedness and processing of vestibular information are present not only in humans but also in ontogenetic older species, e.g. rats. In human functional imaging studies, the processing of vestibular information was found to be correlated with the hemispherical dominance as determined by the handedness. It is located mainly within the right hemisphere in right handers and within the left hemisphere in left handers. Since dominance of vestibular processing is unknown in animals, our aim was to study the lateralization of cortical processing in a functional imaging study applying small-animal positron emission tomography (microPET) and galvanic vestibular stimulation in an in vivo rat model. The cortical and subcortical network processing vestibular information could be demonstrated and correlated with data from other animal studies. By calculating a lateralization index as well as flipped region of interest analyses, we found that the vestibular processing in rats follows a strong left hemispheric dominance independent from the “handedness” of the animals. These findings support the idea of an early hemispheric specialization of vestibular cortical functions in ontogenetic older species.

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Title: Left hemispheric dominance of vestibular processing indicates lateralization of cortical functions in rats
Authors: Christoph Best
Elena Lange
Hans-Georg Buchholz
Mathias Schreckenberger
Stefan Reuss
Marianne Dieterich
Publication date: 01-11-2014
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in: Brain Structure and Function / Issue 6/2014
Print ISSN: 1863-2653
Electronic ISSN: 1863-2661
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-013-0628-1

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Left hemispheric dominance of vestibular processing indicates lateralization of cortical functions in rats

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