在移植手術(shù)后四個(gè)月一位35年前經(jīng)歷過手切除手術(shù)的54歲的男性，在移植手術(shù)后大腦中原先“手掌區(qū)域”又顯示出觸摸的感覺
這個(gè)發(fā)現(xiàn)主要集中在這個(gè)男人右側(cè)移植的附帶主要神經(jīng)，骨骼、筋腱、和肌肉的手掌上。“這還需要確認(rèn)”這個(gè)研究的負(fù)責(zé)人Scott H. Frey談到：“大腦中關(guān)于每根手指的感覺將會(huì)慢慢增加。在手術(shù)后四個(gè)月，基本的觸摸感覺就被報(bào)告出現(xiàn)在手掌底部的拇指下方的肌肉和拇指側(cè)面靠近橈神經(jīng)的區(qū)域。”
磁共振技術(shù)被用于記錄當(dāng)感官刺激被傳達(dá)到手和面對移植接受體時(shí)大腦的活動(dòng)。結(jié)果顯示感覺信號(hào)的傳導(dǎo)從移植的手上傳遞到截肢手術(shù)之前大腦接受手部感覺信號(hào)的區(qū)域。
從大腦的角度來說這個(gè)個(gè)體是非常獨(dú)特的。Frey談到“我們知道當(dāng)一個(gè)人失去了他的手，大腦接收手部感覺信號(hào)的區(qū)域會(huì)重新組織已取代原來的感覺傳導(dǎo)方式。現(xiàn)在，甚至在截肢35年之后，這個(gè)感覺傳入的恢復(fù)看起來可以找回原來手部感覺，這種大腦接受這些改變的能力完全是因?yàn)樵诮邮芙刂中g(shù)時(shí)他的大腦已經(jīng)完全發(fā)育成熟”
重新組織感覺區(qū)域開始在失去肢體一小時(shí)后開始。研究顯示神經(jīng)元開始從新的肢體上接受感覺信號(hào)。“在那里發(fā)生了什么還不完全清楚，也不清楚這個(gè)改變會(huì)持續(xù)多長時(shí)間”，F(xiàn)rey說：“但是一種思路是。于這個(gè)情況沒有大腦的會(huì)讓這種空白的狀態(tài)停留很長。”之后這個(gè)受傷的男人報(bào)告稱幻覺逐漸的減少并且疼痛的報(bào)告經(jīng)常出現(xiàn)在接受移植的患者中。
Frey還談到“什么是手的移植在歷史上第一次允許我們在去問的問題是：在從新組織建立之后是否可能去保留這個(gè)感覺的恢復(fù)到大腦？這個(gè)回答看起來會(huì)是“是”答案將隨著在移植手術(shù)之案例增多而更加確定。”

Transplantation: Signs of Sensory Recovery in New Hand
Four months after a hand transplant - 35 years after amputation - a 54-year-old man’s emerging sense of touch is registered in the former "hand area" of his brain, says a neuroscientist. 10/10/2008
The finding centres only on the man's right palm of a donated hand, which was attached along with major nerves, bones, tendons, and muscle. Still to be determined, lead author Scott H. Frey said, is how the brain’s map of the individual fingers will evolve with increasing sensation. Just four months post-surgery, initial touch sensations were reported on the thenar eminence - muscle on the palm just below the thumb - and on the lateral base of the thumb near the radial nerve.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to record brain activity while sensory stimuli were delivered to the hands and faces of the transplant recipient and four control participants. Results showed that sensory signals from the transplanted hand are being processed in the same brain regions that would have formerly handled sensations from the hand prior to amputation.
"This individual is very unique from a brain standpoint," Frey said. "We know that when someone loses a hand, there are reorganisational changes that take place in areas of the brain that have received sensory input from that hand. Yet, even after 35 years, the restoration of sensory input seems capable of recapturing the former territory of the hand. The capacity of the brain to reverse these changes is all the more striking in light of the fact that his brain was fully mature when the amputation occurred.”
Reorganisation in sensory regions begins within hours of a limb loss. Research has shown that neurons that had been devoted to receiving sensory inputs from the limb take on new duties. Exactly what happens is not entirely clear, nor is it certain how long such changes continue, Frey said, "but one way to think about it is that none of the brain's real estate is left vacant for very long". Over time, the injured man reported gradual reductions of phantom sensations and pain often reported by amputees.
"What this hand transplant allows us to ask for the very first time in history is: Following reorganisational changes, is it possible to reverse the restoration of sensory input into the brain? The answer, which appears to be yes, extends well beyond the case of hand transplants," Frey said.