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UNIVERSITY OF BOTSWANA

BIO 231 GROUP ASSIGNMENT 1


THE AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM AND ITS DISTRIBUTION AROUND THE
BODY

The nervous system includes two major division the central and peripheral, the peripheral
nervous is further divided into somatic and autonomic. The autonomic nervous is the
controlling system that regulates the basic visceral process needed for the maintenance of
normal bodily functions .The response of the autonomic nervous system are involuntary,
although certain events such as stress ,sexual excitement and alteration in the sleep-wake
change the level of autonomic activity. Autonomic impulses arise in the spinal cord, brain stem
and the hypothalamus. Its main purpose is to regulates activities of the smooth muscle, cardiac
muscle and certain glands, there is also the autonomic illusory (convenient) is regulated by
hypothalamus and medulla oblongata. The autonomic nervous system regulates many of the
internal organs through a balance of two aspects, or divisions. In addition to the endocrine
system, the autonomic nervous system is instrumental in homeostatic mechanisms in the body.
This system is further divided into two subdivisions that is the sympathetic and
parasympathetic, both divisions generally innervates the same visceral organs but cause
opposite effect.

The sympathetic system is associated with the fight-or-flight response, and parasympathetic
activity is referred to by the epithet of rest and digest. At each target effector, dual innervation
determines activity. For example, the heart receives connections from both the sympathetic and
parasympathetic divisions. One causes heart rate to increase, whereas the other causes heart
rate to decrease.

The sympathetic nervous system consists of ganglia and nerves that connects internal organs
to the brain. The histology of the sympathetic nervous system comprises the preganglionic
neurons, ganglia and postganglionic neurons. Preganglionic neurons are long and comprise of
cell bodies located on the lateral horns of the vertebra. The parasympathetic system can also
be referred to as the craniosacral system (or outflow) because the preganglionic neurons are
located in nuclei of the brain stem and the lateral horn of the sacral spinal cord

Sympathetic nervous system triggers what is commonly known as the "fight or flight" response.
Parasympathetic nervous system is sometimes referred to as the "rest and digest" system. It
acts in the opposite way to the sympathetic nervous system, reversing the effects of the fight-
or-flight response
.

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