Paraventricular nucleus

Last revised by Anthony Zhewei Liu on 4 Aug 2022

Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data

Citation:

Hacking C, Liu A, Knipe H, et al. Paraventricular nucleus. Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 26 Sep 2023) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-148607

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-148607

Permalink:

https://radiopaedia.org/articles/148607

rID:

148607

Article created:

5 Jul 2022, Craig Hacking ◉ ◈

Disclosures:

At the time the article was created Craig Hacking had the following disclosures:

Philips Australia, Paid speaker at Philips Spectral CT events (ongoing)

These were assessed during peer review and were determined to not be relevant to the changes that were made.

View Craig Hacking's current disclosures

Last revised:

4 Aug 2022, Anthony Zhewei Liu

Disclosures:

At the time the article was last revised Anthony Zhewei Liu had no recorded disclosures.

View Anthony Zhewei Liu's current disclosures

Revisions:

7 times, by 4 contributors - see full revision history and disclosures

Systems:

Central Nervous System

Sections:

Anatomy

Synonyms:

Paraventricular nucleus (PVN)
Paraventricular nuclei

The paraventricular nucleus is a group of neurosecretory cells in the hypothalamus that produce the hormones oxytocin and vasopressin (antidiuretic hormone).

Gross anatomy

The paraventricular nucleus is found in the medial area of the anterior hypothalamus immediately medial to the column of the fornix. Axons pass through the paraventriculohypophyseal tract to the supraoptic nucleus, where they form the supraopticohypophyseal tract by joining neurons of the supraoptic nucleus.

Terminal synapse

Both the magnocellular paraventricular and supraoptic axons terminate in the posterior pituitary, where the terminal neurosecretory synapses release oxytocin and vasopressin into the posterior pituitary capillary plexus. These neuroendocrine hormones are stored in specialized axonal swellings called Herring bodies.

In addition, the magnocellular and parvocellular axons of the paraventricular nucleus also project to intrahypothalamic structures including the median eminence and the arcuate nucleus, as well as more distal extrahypothalamic autonomic regions including the dorsal vagal complex.