Phantom lower limb as a perceptual marker of neural plasticity in the mature human brain

Abstract

Three lower limb amputees, who reported phantom sensations, referred somatic stimuli delivered to skin regions proximal to the stump to select points on the phantom limb. Stimuli on the rectum and anus (e.g. during defecation) and on genital areas (e.g. during sexual intercourse) induced analogous, although less precise, mislocation to the phantom limb. Although the representation of the stump in the somatosensory pathway is lateral to that of the amputated lower limb, both anus and genitals are mapped medially to the areas formerly subserving the amputated lower limb. Therefore the mislocalization phenomenon can be considered as a perceptual landmark of new functional connections between the deprived areas and the adjacent ones, thus suggesting a dynamic neural remodelling in the mature nervous system, which was previously considered as a static entity.