Sympathetic Nervous System Research Paper

Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Nervous System

Salma Ewing

Feb 15, 2018

The sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system are two divisions of the autonomic nervous system of the body. They are very closely related and coordinated with each other and regulate the unconscious functions of the body. The autonomic nervous system is responsible for our involuntary reactions and controls our heart beat, digestive processes, blood flow and hormone production. This means that we can’t consciously control whether our heart beats or not. The sympathetic nervous system prepares our body for the flight or fight response. If we are in an emergency situation, the sympathetic nervous system gets our body ready to either fight the enemy or run away from

This means that without really thinking about it, we take immediate action when we are awoken in the middle of the night to the smell of fire/smoke. The nerve pathway contains one group of sensory neurons and two groups of motor neurons with a set of ganglia between them. As you can see in the image below (Figure 2), the ganglia are represented by yellow clusters (see the celiac ganglion, superior mesenteric ganglion, inferior mesenteric ganglion). The red lines represent the preganglionic neurons and as you can see in Figure 2, these motor neurons mostly sit in the central nervous system – see how the red lines stem from the spinal cord. The ganglionic neurons or postganglionic are represented by the blue lines. These motor neurons extend from the ganglia to the organs –see how a “blue” neuron stems from the celiac ganglion to the liver and to the stomach and to the pancreas, for

As you can see from the picture below (Figure 7), the cranial nerves (shown in blue) include the facial nerves, oculomotor nerve, vagus nerve, and glossopharyngeal nerve. There are also three spinal nerves in the sacrum which stimulate defection, urination and penile erection. These nerves are often referred to as pelvic splanchic nerves (located at T5 – T12). The parasympathetic system has ganglia in roots of cranial nerves and the neurotransmitter released by the postganglionic motor neurons is acetycholine. After the fire is put out and everyone is safe, acetylcholine works to bring the organs back to homeostasis. Acetylcholine will slow the heart rate. The airways become constricted. Digestion is stimulated. The gall bladder is stimulated to release bile in anticipation of needing to digest fats. Blood vessels are dilated in intestines and rectum. So basically the parasympathetic nervous system gets the body back to a normal