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Abstract
The distribution of serotonin-immunoreactive varicosities in the paraventricular (PVH)
and supraoptic (SO) nuclei was charted in normal immunohistochemical material and
the probable cells of origin of these projections were identified using a combined
retrograde transport-immunohistochemical method. The density of serotonergic fibers
in the PVH and the SO is quite low relative to that in the immediately surrounding
neuropil, in striking contrast to noradrenergic inputs to the nuclei. Immunoreactive
fibers are concentrated in specific parts of the parvocellular division of the PVH,
whereas in the magnocellular division of the nucleus, and in the SO, they are found
mostly in regions where oxytocinergic cells predominate. These projections appear
to arise from 3 distinct serotonergic cell groups (B7, B8 and B9) in the midbrain.