Autonomic Nervous System

Phase 1 Ph1 L034 The Autonomic Nervous System

Barbara Webb

These nerves are involved in regulating the internal environment of the body. Sensory fibres travel for the most part y p in company with the motor fibres and have their ganglia in the posterior root ganglia of the spinal nerves or in the sensory ganglia of the cranial nerves.

Autonomic Nervous System

Motor fibres innervate smooth muscle and glands, for the most part directly but in the GIT they modulate the activity of its autonomous nervous system. A similar situation occurs in the heart where the pacemaker -the sinu-atrial node can be influenced by autonomic activity. In neither of these cases does the ANS influence the muscle directly.

Autonomic & Somatic Comparison Autonomic

The cell bodies of these motor neurons lie in ganglia outside the CNS.
Autonomic motor pathways consists of two neurons in series. The first has its cell body in the CNS with the axon extending to an autonomic ganglion where it synapses. From here the axon arising from the cell body travels to the effector organ e.g. smooth muscle.

Somatic

Autonomic Nervous System The motor part of the ANS has two principal divisions: 1. 2. Sympathetic Parasympathetic

Autonomic Nervous System

Many organs receive fibres from both divisions which are in general antagonistic to each other i.e. one may be excitatory while the other inhibitory.

Autonomic Nervous System Sympathetic Arise: T1-L2

Autonomic Nervous System

Distribution: All parts of the body wall and the viscera. Function: Moderate visceral functions e.g. Heart rate, peristalsis, sweating

Sympathetic Distribution

Autonomic Nervous System

Sympathetic Distribution

Autonomic Nervous System

Effects of Sympathetic Stimulation Motor responses

Strong sympathetic activity would lead to: staring eyes, cold, clammy skin, dry mouth, hair standing on end, sinking feeling in the pit of the stomach. It must be remembered that this picture is the extreme and that sympathetic activity at a much more gentle level is occurring all the time, balanced against parasympathetic activity to produce smoothly controlled visceral function.

Sympathetic Distribution

Effects of Sympathetic Stimulation Sensory fibres Concerned with regulation of visceral activity and seldom reaches consciousness y except as pain, nausea due to visceral damage, fullness of urinary bladder and angina pectoris from inadequate blood flow to the heart.

Autonomic Nervous System

Parasympathetic Arises: Cranio-sacral. Cranial nerves III, VII, IX ,X Sacral spinal nerve S2-S4 S2 S4

Distribution: Head & Trunk only Function: Regulating normal functions of the organs it supplies.

Autonomic Nervous System

Autonomic Nervous System

Parasympathetic Division

Autonomic Nervous System

Autonomic Nervous System

Distribution of Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Fibres

Autonomic Nervous System

1. 2. 3.

Review Questions
Give the origins and distribution of the divisions of the autonomic nervous system Describe a synaptic and an asynaptic ganglion and explain where they may be found Define the following terms:

Control of Autonomic Nervous System

a) Visceral b) Autonomic c) 4. Automatic What effect does stimulation of the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system have on:

a) The heart rate b) Peristalsis 5. During robust exercise more blood flows to the skeletal muscle. How is this achieved without causing a fall in blood pressure?