Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T14:41:13.580Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 4 - The Peripheral Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Pathways

from Part II - Functional Organization of the Peripheral Autonomic Nervous System

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 July 2022

Wilfrid Jänig
Affiliation:
Christian-Albrechts Universität zu Kiel, Germany
Get access

Summary

The peripheral autonomic nervous system supplies each group of target tissues by one (sometimes two) pathway(s) each consisting of sets of pre- and postganglionic neurons with distinct patterns of reflex activity as established for the lumbar sympathetic outflow to skin, skeletal muscle and viscera, for the thoracic sympathetic outflow to the head and neck and for some parasympathetic pathways. The principle of organization into functionally discrete pathways is the same in both the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous system, the only difference being that some functional targets of the sympathetic system are widely distributed (e.g., muscle blood vessels, skin blood vessels, sweat glands, etc.). Experimental investigations in humans support the idea of functionally discrete sympathetic pathways innervating skin or skeletal muscle developed in animal studies. The reflex patterns observed in each group of autonomic neurons are the result of integrative processes in the spinal cord, brain stem and hypothalamus. The concept that the sympathetic nervous system operates in an "all-or-none" fashion, without distinction between different effector organs, is not valid. The same applies to the idea of a functional antagonism between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Integrative Action of the Autonomic Nervous System
Neurobiology of Homeostasis
, pp. 86 - 133
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

Kirillova-Woytke, I, Baron, R and Jänig, W. Reflex inhibition of cutaneous and muscle vasoconstrictor neurons during stimulation of cutaneous and muscle nociceptors. J Neurophysiol 111: 18331845, 2014.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lovén, C. Über die Erweiterung von Arterien in Folge einer Nervenerregung [On the vasodilation of arteries as a consequence of a nerve stimulation]. Ber Verh Königl-sächs Ges Wiss: Math-phys Classe 18: 85110, 1866.Google Scholar
Bayliss, WM. On reciprocal innervation in vaso-motor reflexes and the action of strychnine and of chloroform thereon. Proc Roy Soc B 80: 339375, 1908.Google Scholar
Bard, P. Regulation of the systemic circulation. In Mountcastle, VB (ed.): Medical Physiology Vol I, 12th edn. The C.V. Mosby Company, p. 194, 1968.Google Scholar
Bell, GH, Davidson, JN and Scarborough, H. Textbook of Physiology and Biochemistry, 6th edn. Edinburgh and London: E. & S. Livingstone Ltd, p. 520, 1950.Google Scholar
Detweiler, DK. Control mechanisms of the circulatory system. In Brobeck, JR (ed). Best & Taylor’s Physiological Basis of Medical Practice, 10th edn. Baltimore: The Williams & Wilkins Company, p. 3178, 1979.Google Scholar
Hamilton, W. Circulation through special regions. In Fulton J (ed). A Textbook of Physiology, 16th edn, Philadelphia, London: WB Saunders Company, 1950, p. 760765.Google Scholar
Horeyseck, G and Jänig, W. Reflexes in postganglionic fibres within skin and muscle nerves after noxious stimulation of skin. Exp Brain Res 20: 125134, 1974b.Google ScholarPubMed
Horeyseck, G and Jänig, W. Reflex activity in postganglionic fibres within skin and muscle nerves elicited by somatic stimuli in chronic spinal cats. Exp Brain Res 21: 155168, 1974c.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grosse, M and Jänig, W. Vasoconstrictor and pilomotor fibres in skin nerves to the cat’s tail. Pflügers Arch 361: 221229, 1976.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Häbler, HJ, Jänig, W, Krummel, M and Peters, OA. Reflex patterns in postganglionic neurons supplying skin and skeletal muscle of the rat hindlimb. J Neurophysiol 72: 22222236, 1994a.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jänig, W and Kümmel, H. Functional discrimination of postganglionic neurones to the cat’s hindpaw with respect to the skin potentials recorded from the hairless skin. Pflügers Arch 371: 217225, 1977.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jänig, W and Kümmel, H. Organization of the sympathetic innervation supplying the hairless skin of the cat’s paw. J Auton Nerv Syst 3: 215230, 1981.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jänig, W and Spilok, N. Functional organization of the sympathetic innervation supplying the hairless skin of the hindpaws in chronic spinal cats. Pflügers Arch 377: 2531, 1978.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blumberg, H and Wallin, BG. Direct evidence of neurally mediated vasodilatation in hairy skin of the human foot. J Physiol 382: 105121, 1987.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Suggested Reading

All references cited in the text are available online at www.cambridge.org/janig.

Furlan, A., La Manno, G., Lubke, M., et al. (2016) Visceral motor neuron diversity delineates a cellular basis for nipple- and pilo-erection muscle control. Nat Neurosci 19, 13311340.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Häbler, H. J., Jänig, W. and Michaelis, M. (1994b) Respiratory modulation of activity in sympathetic neurones. Prog Neurobiol 43, 567606.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jänig, W. (1985) Organization of the lumbar sympathetic outflow to skeletal muscle and skin of the cat hindlimb and tail. Rev Physiol Biochem Pharmacol 102, 119213.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jänig, W. (2016) Neurocardiology: a neurobiologist’s perspective. J Physiol 594, 39553962.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jänig, W. (2020) Sympathetic nervous system and pain. In The Senses: A Comprehensive Reference, Vol 5 – Pain, 2nd edn (Pogatzki-Zahn, E. and Schaible, H.-G., eds.) pp. 193226, Elsevier, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Jänig, W. and McLachlan, E. M. (1987) Organization of lumbar spinal outflow to distal colon and pelvic organs. Physiol Rev 67, 13321404.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jänig, W. and McLachlan, E. M. (1992a) Characteristics of function-specific pathways in the sympathetic nervous system. Trends Neurosci 15, 475481.Google Scholar
Kirillova-Woytke, I., Baron, R. and Jänig, W. (2014) Reflex inhibition of cutaneous and muscle vasoconstrictor neurons during stimulation of cutaneous and muscle nociceptors. J Neurophysiol 111, 18331845.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McAllen, R. M., Salo, L. M., Paton, J. F. and Pickering, A. E. (2011) Processing of central and reflex vagal drives by rat cardiac ganglion neurones: an intracellular analysis. J Physiol 589, 58015818.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morrison, S. F. (2018) Efferent neural pathways for the control of brown adipose tissue thermogenesis and shivering. Handb Clin Neurol 156, 281303.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×