changes in cortical dendritic branching subsequent to partial.pdfVIP

Changes in Cortical Dendritic Branching Subsequent to Partial Social Isolation in Stump tailed Monkeys ROBERT G. STRUBLE AUSTIN H . RIESEN Department of Psychology University of California, Riverside Riverside, California Stumptailed monkeys we • reared from 1 week after birth to 6 months of age in either a colony condition with the mot -r or in partial social isolation that allowed visual contact with the colony animals, but not physic^ contact. At 6 months of age the animals were killed and selected areas of w.ie neocortex stained by the Golgi-Cox method . Relatively nonspiney cells of Layer IV were drawn and analyzed for complexity of dent itic 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 lov/er rate of branching than the controls . We conclude that social isolation also includes a raotoric deprivation that could account ior these data . ,*»