Comparative study of dopamine- and noradrenaline-immunoreactive terminals in the paraventricular and supraoptic nuclei of the rat.

The distribution of dopaminergic and noradrenergic terminal fields of the paraventricular (PVN) and supraoptic (SON) nuclei of the rat was investigated at the optic and electron microscopical level using antibodies directed against dopamine (DA) and noradrenaline (NA). The DA innervation was uniform among these nuclei, although more important in the PVN than in the SON. NA fibers were preferentially distributed in the parvocellular parts of the PVN and in areas of the magnocellular nuclei where vasopressinergic neurons were mainly located. Both DA and NA terminals synaptically contacted magnocellular neurons on their cell body or dendrites. This study thus provides morphological evidence for a double and independent catecholaminergic control, by DA and NA, on neuroendocrine mechanisms at the hypothalamic level.