The Autonomic Nervous System

Autonomic nervous system

Role: Controls body functions such as:
Glands cardiac muscle smooth muscle

autonomic = selfgoverning

Divisions of the ANS

2 divisions:
Sympathetic nervous system:
(fight or flight)

Parasympathetic nervous system:

Controls daily body functionsm

Both divisions are constantly counteracting or acting together in autonomic tone

 Somatic nervous system

Receptors: touch, pressure,
pain, visual, acoustic, proprioreceptors

Autonomic nervous system

Receptors: chemoreceptors,
osmoreceptors, baroreceptors

Integrating center:
cortex, basal ganglia, cerebellum, spinal cord

Integrating centers:
hypothalamus, brain stem, spinal cord

Effectors: striated muscles

Effectors: glands, smooth

and cardiac muscles

Receptors
Osmorecptors: sense change in osmotic pressure (or blood solute concentration) Chemoreceptors: sense change in a certain compound concentration Baroreceptors: sense changes in pressure

Integrating centers
Main area:
hypothalamus Brain stem

Other areas:
spinal cord

Motor pathways
More complicated than somatic nervous system Motor pathways have 2 motor neurons (rather than 1 in the somatic NS) Two types of output
Sympathetic parasympathetic

Anatomy of the parasympathetic ANS

First motor neuron originates in the medulla oblongata or sacral spine Their axon travels to the second motor neuron (forming the ganglia) axon is long

Ganglia are located near or in the wall of the organ under control
The second motor neuron sends a short axon into the organ under control

ANS motor pathways

Types of neurotransmitter and receptors will be discussed in human physiology

The parasympathetic from the medulla innervate most of the body. Most of its impulses are travelling through the Vagus nerve (X)
The sacral parasympathetic controls the lower abdomen (urination, defecation and erection)

Sympathetic motor ANS

The first motor neuron is located in the lateral horns of the spinal cord, between T1 and L2 It send a short axon to the second motor neuron located in the paravertebral ganglia (ganglia located in close proximity of the spinal cord). The paravertebral ganglia communicate with each other and form the sympathetic chain. The post-synaptic neuron sends a long axon in order to make contact with the effector

Sympathetic motor NS
Lateral horn paravertebral ganglia spinal nerve = white communicating ramus (myelinated) Signals FROM the ganglion (to the target tissue) travel along unmyelinated fibers = grey communicating ramus Signals between ganglia along the sympathetic trunk

Sympathetic motor NS
The pattern below is the most common for the sympathetic ANS

However, there are exceptions (just in case you thought that this subject was too easy!!)

- In mid thorax, some axons of the first motor does not synapse in the

paravertebral ganglia but in ganglia further away: - superior mesenteric gg stomach, duodenum - celiac gg (b) pancreas, liver, kidney - inferior mesenteric gg (D)lower intestine These preganglionic axons form the splanchnic nerves

Exceptions:
- The axons of the first motor neurons travel all the way to the adrenal gland (medulla). The second motor neuron has lost its axon and became a secretory cell.