BIO 11 Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Adrenal Gland, Gray Ramus Communicans, Homeostasis
Document Summary
Flight or fight division of the ans. Maintains homeostasis during exercise, emotion, and emergency. Gross and microscopic anatomy of the sympathetic nervous system. Most of the cell bodies of the postganglionic neurons are found in a series along the vertebral column. Their chainlike appearance has given them the name sympathetic chain ganglia. Sympathetic chain ganglia extend beyond the thoracic and lumbar spinal cord, from the superior cervical ganglion down to the inferior sacral ganglion. Preganglionic neurons originate in the lateral horns of the thoracic and lumbar spinal cord. Axons of preganglionic neurons exit the spinal cord with axons of lower motor neurons via the anterior root. They travel with the spinal nerve and the anterior ramus for a short distance before branching off to form small nerves called white rami communicantes (myelinated) Axons in white rami communicantes then enter the sympathetic chain ganglia that house the cell bodies of the postganglionic sympathetic neurons.
