| Summary: | The neuroplastic changes in the motor representations within the face primary motor cortex (Face-M1) due to jaw and tongue motor alterations following the unilateral extraction of maxillary molars teeth have not been explored. The present study used intracortical microstimulation (ICMS) and recordings of evoked electromyographic responses to compare jaw (anterior digastric) and tongue (genioglossus) motor representations within the histologically defined Face-M1 one week post intervention across naive rats (n=6), rats that underwent anesthesia, right maxillary molar extraction after soft tissue manipulation (n=6) and rats that underwent anesthesia and soft tissue manipulation without extraction (n = 7). A small but significant anterior increase in the representation of the jaw and tongue motor representations was observed (oneway ANOVA p < 0.01, Bonferroni p < 0.01) in the contralateral Face-M1 one week following unilateral extraction of maxillary molars in rats.
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