Sympathetic Trunk and Associated Branches Flashcards
Courses vertically across the heads of the ribs along the posterior thoracic wall, deep to the pleura. This chain is also known as the paravertebral ganglia.
Thoracic sympathetic chain or trunk.
The thoracic portion of the sympathetic trunk typically has 12 bilateral ganglia connected to adjacent thoracic spinal nerves by ____ and ____ ____ ________.
white, gray rami communicantes.
Have myelinated nerve fibers and thus appear white.
White rami communicantes.
Have unmyelinated nerve fibers and thus appear gray.
Gray rami communicantes.
The thoracic sympathetic ganglia are connected together by _______ ____, which are composed of ascending and descending processes of preganglionic sympathetic neurons.
Internodal fibers.
Where do cell bodies for preganglionic sympathetic neurons originate from?
Lateral horn of the spinal cord gray matter.
Where do the axons exit from, and then enter into?
Exit the ventral root, and enters the ventral ramus.
What preganglionic sympathetic neurons en route to abdominal organs course through the sympathetic ganglia without synapsing?
Splanchnic nerves.
What are the three types of splanchnic nerves?
Greater splanchnic nerve, lesser splanchnic nerve, and the least splanchnic nerve.
Union of the T5-T9 splanchnic nerves; synapses are in the celiac or superior mesenteric ganglia.
Greater splanchnic nerve.
Union of the T10-T11 splanchnic nerves; synapses are in the superior mesenteric ganglia or aorticorenal ganglia.
Lesser splanchnic nerve.
The T12 splanchnic nerves; synapses in the aorticorenal ganglion.
Least splanchnic nerve.
