Morphometric analysis of the supraoptic nucleus in the human brain.

The supraoptic nucleus (SON) in the human hypothalamus is an elongated, densely packed collection of large neurosecretory cells. The size, shape and cellular morphology of the dorsolateral part of the SON was examined in relation to sex and age in adult subjects. In this region, the following parameters were measured: length of the rostrocaudal axis, maximum cross-sectional area, volume, numerical cell density, total cell number and the mean diameter of the cell nuclei. No sexual differences were observed in any of these parameters with the exception that males have a more elongated SON than females. In contrast to absolute size, sex-linked differences were found in the way the morphometric parameters are interrelated. Of the parameters investigated, only the number of cells in the SON showed significant changes with ageing. A striking increase in the total number of cells, by about 30%, was found between 40 and 65 years of age. A further increase in cell number was observed after the age of 65 years, as a result of which the nucleus contained, on average, 1.4 times as many cells in old subjects (65-90 years) as in young individuals (20-40 years). These findings suggest that a substantial proliferation of glial cells takes place in the human supraoptic nucleus with advancing age. Finally, the morphology of the SON was compared with that of other hypothalamic regions--the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) and the paraventricular nucleus (PVN)--using the same material as that used in previous investigations in this series (Hofman et al. 1988; Hofman & Swaab, 1989).