Tactile discrimination and cortical unit activity after lesions in the dorsal spinal cord of rat

Bilateral lesions in either dorsal columns or dorsal lateral columns of albino rats produced only a mild, transient deficit on a discrimination between rostrally and caudally directed strokes on the flanks. The proportion of single units in somatosensory cortical area I that were driven by gentle mechanical stimuli was not reliably reduced by either lesion.