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autonomic nervous system
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ABBR: ANS. The parts of the nervous system that control unconscious, involuntary, and visceral body functions. The autonomic nervous system reflexively balances the body's smooth muscle tone, blood pressure, temperature, fluid composition, state of digestion, metabolic activity, and sexual activation. In the central nervous system (CNS), the activities of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) are coordinated in the brainstem (especially in the nucleus of the tractus solitarius) and in the hypothalamus. In the peripheral nervous system (PNS), the ANS comprises the visceral motor axons, the visceral sensory axons, and the enteric nervous system (a neural net within the walls of the gastrointestinal tract). Compared to peripheral somatic axons, the peripheral autonomic axons tend to be small (less than 3μm in diameter), slowly conducting, and sparsely myelinated. The autonomic motor circuits also differ from somatic motor pathways. Peripheral somatic motor pathways, i.e., the circuitry sending signals to skeletal muscles, are only one axon long; axons of somatic motor neurons in the spinal cord and brainstem synapse directly on the effector cell, a muscle cell. In contrast, peripheral autonomic motor pathways are two axons long. First, an axon (a preganglionic axon) of a visceral motor neuron in the spinal cord or brainstem synapses on a neuron in a peripheral ganglion. Second, the axon (a postganglionic axon) of the ganglion neuron synapses on the effector cell, a smooth muscle cell, a cardiac muscle cell, or a secretory cell.
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This autonomic motor circuitry is further subdivided into two parallel subsystems; the sympathetic and the parasympathetic. The subsystems differ in two major ways:
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1. In the sympathetic system, the central (preganglionic) neurons are located only in the thoracic and lumbar segments of the spinal cord; in the parasympathetic system, the central neurons are located only in the brainstem and in a short segment of the caudal end of the spinal cord.
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2. In the sympathetic system, norepinephrine is the characteristic neurotransmitter of the postganglionic axons; in the parasympathetic system, acetylcholine is the characteristic neurotransmitter of the postganglionic axons.
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In both the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems, the characteristic neurotransmitter of the preganglionic axons is acetylcholine. Besides their characteristic neurotransmitters, autonomic nerves influence surrounding tissues through the release of other active chemicals including ATP, nitric oxide, and a range of peptides, e.g., substance P and vasoactive intestinal peptide. As a result of their different final transmitters, the effects of the two subsystems differ. Sympathetic stimulation readies an animal for interaction with the outside world and prepares the animal for "fight or flight"; e.g., activation of sympathetic axons increases heart rate and decreases gastrointestinal peristalsis. On the other hand, parasympathetic stimulation relaxes and quiets an animal; e.g., activation of parasympathetic axons decreases heart rate and increases gastrointestinal peristalsis. The accompanying table compares the effects of sympathetic and parasympathetic stimulation on specific tissues. SEE: parasympathetic nervous system; sympathetic nervous system; illus.; table.
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