ANS Flashcards
What parts of the body does the ANS innervate and control?
Visceral organs, smooth muscle, skin and secretory glands.
What is the main function of the ANS?
Homeostasis (CVR, digestive, excretory and thermoregulatory mechanisms) - Automatic
What do the afferent sensory divisions of the ANS include?
Somatic and visceral sensory
What does the efferent motor division of the ANS include?
Somatic motor and visceral motor.
Visceral motor functions are divided into sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous pathways.
(These pathways typically innervate identical organs with antagonistically stimulating effects.)
Outline the structure of the sympathetic division of the ANS.
Myelinated preganglionic fibres leave CNS and then synapse in a ganglion (collection of cell bodies) with un-myelinated post-ganglionic fibres. Ganglia are close to the CNS, therefore the preganglionic fibres are shorter, and the post-ganglionic fibres connecting to the target organ are longer compared to that of the parasympathetic system.
What does the sympathetic division of the ANS do? What affect does it have on HR, pupils, GI motility etc.?
Fight or flight
Increased HR and BP, dilated bronchi to increase airflow, vasodilation in skeletal muscle allowing increase blood flow; GI motility decreases. Increased blood glucose to support high ATP demand.
From which region of the SC do sympathetic preganglionic sympathetic neurones come from?
Thoracic and upper 2/3 lumbar segments of SC, residing within the lateral horn of the spinal grey matter.
From which nerve roots do preganglionic axons leave the cord?
Ventral nerve roots, joining the mixed spinal nerve.
Where doe postganglionic sympathetic neurones have their cell bodies?
Sympathetic chain of ganglia lying either side of the vertebral column or the plexuses (coeliac, superior and inferior mesenteric) that surround the main branches of the abdominal aorta.
How do preganglionic axons in spinal nerves enter the sympathetic/paravertebral chain?
White ramus communicans
Through what do post-ganglionic fibres return to the SC?
Grey ramus communicans
What is special about preganglionic sympathetic fibres concerned with innervation of pelvic and abdominal viscera?
Pass uninterrupted through the sympathetic chain and travel to the plexuses where corresponding postganglionic cell bodies are located.
What NT is released in the pre and post-ganglionic sympathetic fibres respectively?
Pre - ACh
Post - NA
What does the parasympathetic division of the ANS do? How does it effect HR, pupils etc. ?
Inhibitory effect on viscera, an antagonistic effect to sympathetic division. Rest and digest.
Outflow of paraNS?
Craniosacral outflow
(Preganglionic parasympathetic neurones reside within the brainstem and the SC. Within the brainstem, such cells lie in cranial nerve nuclei associated with the oculomotor, facial, glossopharyngeal and vagus nerves. Preganglionic parasympathetic neurones are present in S2-4, provide innervation of pelvic viscera.)