Cortical Organization in the Etruscan Shrew (Suncus etruscus)

Cortical organization in the Etruscan shrew is of comparative interest because of its small size and because the Etruscan shrew is an amazing tactile hunter. Here we investigated cortical organization in Etruscan shrews by electrophysiological mapping. We developed an anesthesia protocol for this very small mammal in which we combined massive application of local anesthesia, very slow induction of general anesthesia, and passive cooling. Under this anesthesia regime, we characterized auditory, visual, and somatosensory cortical responses. We found that large parts of shrew cortex respond to such stimuli. Of the responsive sites, a small fraction (∼14%) responded to visual stimuli in a caudally located region. Another small fraction of sites (∼11%) responded to auditory stimuli in a centrally located region. The majority of sites (∼75%) responded to tactile stimuli. We identified two topographically organized somatosensory areas with small receptive fields referred to as putative primary somatosensory cortex and putative secondary somatosensory cortex. In a posterior-lateral region that partially overlaps with piriform cortex, we observed large somatosensory receptive fields and often polysensory responses. In an anterior-lateral region that partially overlaps with piriform cortex, we observed large unimodal somatosensory receptive fields. Our findings demonstrate a remarkable degree of tactile specialization in Etruscan shrew cortex.