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Changes in cortical dendritic branching subsequent to partial social isolation in stumptailed monkeys
Author(s) -
Struble Robert G.,
Riesen Austin H.
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
developmental psychobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1098-2302
pISSN - 0012-1630
DOI - 10.1002/dev.420110511
Subject(s) - neocortex , social isolation , branching (polymer chemistry) , biology , social contact , cortex (anatomy) , physiology , psychology , neuroscience , developmental psychology , chemistry , organic chemistry , psychotherapist
Stumptailed monkeys were reared from 1 week after birth to 6 months of age in either a colony condition with the mother or in partial social isolation that allowed visual contact with the colony animals, but not physical contact. At 6 months of age the animals were killed and selected areas of the neocortex stained by the Golgi‐Cox method. Relatively nonspiney cells of Layer IV were drawn and analyzed for complexity of dendritic branching. Isolation‐reared animals had significantly decreased branching complexity in Motor I cortex when compared to the control animals. A transform of the data that related the number of branches to the number of previous branches showed a slight rearing effect in Somatosensory I cortex with the deprived animals having a lower rate of branching than the controls. We conclude that social isolation also includes a motoric deprivation that could account for these data.