The noradrenergic innervation density of the monkey paraventricular nucleus is not altered by early social deprivation

A series of neuroanatomic analyses have been undertaken to identify potential neuropathological changes seen in monkeys exposed to early social deprivation, which leads to psychopathology, inappropriate responses to stress and appetitive disorders. The animals used in this study were either socially reared or maternal- and peer-deprived. Within this framework, the distribution and density of noradrenergic (and adrenergic) varicosities was assessed in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus of rhesus monkeys using dopamine-β-hydroxylase immunohistochemistry combined with laser scanning microscopy. Quantitative analysis of dopamine-β-hydroxylase-immunoreactive varicosity density within magnocellular and parvicellular regions revealed no significant differences between rearing conditions, suggesting that this chemically identified afferent input to the paraventricular nucleus was not affected by the early environmental insult of social deprivation. The apparent lack of vulnerability of the paraventricular nucleus to differential rearing conditions contrasts with the neuropathological changes observed in several discrete brain regions.