Sophisticated tongue movements are coordinated finely via cortical control. We elucidated the cortical processes associated with voluntary tongue movement. Movement-related cortical fields were investigated during self-paced repetitive tongue protrusion. Surface tongue electromyograms were recorded to determine movement onset. To identify the location of the primary somatosensory cortex (S1), tongue somatosensory evoked fields were measured. The readiness fields (RFs) over both hemispheres began prior to movement onset and culminated in the motor fields (MFs) around movement onset. These signals were followed by transient movement evoked fields (MEFs) after movement onset. The MF and MEF peak latencies and magnitudes were not different between the hemispheres. The MF current sources were located in the precentral gyrus, suggesting they were located in the primary motor cortex (M1); this was contrary to the MEF sources, which were located in S1. We conclude that the RFs and MFs mainly reflect the cortical processes for the preparation and execution of tongue movement in the bilateral M1, without hemispheric dominance. Moreover, the MEFs may represent proprioceptive feedback from the tongue to bilateral S1. Such cortical processing related to the efferent and afferent information may aid in the coordination of sophisticated tongue movements.

In this study, we investigated water-dispersible surface modification for size- and shape-controlled fullerene nanoparticles (C60P) based on a condensation reaction with di-amino alkane. This modification provided for water dispersibility of C60P and the capability for secondary modification as well. The resultant C60P particles have several useful physical properties: water-dispersibility for ease of injection; fluorescence for detection and quantification; and a characteristic morphology to assist identification. These properties will widely extend the applications of these particles, especially into the biological fields of bioimaging and drug delivery.