Physiology 501

Autonomics I - Overview and Organization

Anderson
8 September 2021
AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM

Involuntary Motor System

Visceral efferent (motor) system
CNS & Peripheral Motor Systems

Enteric Nervous System

ENS is both separate from the ANS and a target of the ANS
Targets of Innervation by the ANS
Heart
Muscular Tissue

Specialized Conducting Tissue

Smooth Muscle
Blood Vessels Digestive Tract
Urinary Tract Airways

Reproductive Organs
Glandular Tissue
Sweat Glands Digestive Glands

Respiratory Tract Reproductive Tract

Functions of ANS: Homeostasis

Regulation of visceral organ function to maintain homeostasis

• CV → Maintain arterial blood pressure
• Vessel caliber alteration
• Cardiac Mechanical Performance: ∆HR, ∆force of contraction
• Digestive System → Control and coordinate GI motility &
secretions (in conjunction with hormones)
• Urinary System → Voiding
• Respiratory System → Manipulation of airway resistance and
secretions
ANS: Adaptive Responses

Control appropriate responses to environmental stimuli

• Light
• Constriction of pupil in bright light (miosis)
• Dilation of pupil in low light (mydriasis)
• Temperature
• Cutaneous vasodilation and sweating in warm environment
• Cutaneous vasoconstriction and goose-pimpling in cold environment
• Stress
• Rapid, coordinated response to threatening or stressful stimuli
• The fight or flight response
 Signs of Fear
• Pounding Heart → ↑ HR, ↑ force of contraction
• Dilated Pupils → Wide-eyed with fear
• Pallor → pale with fear, ashen-faced
• Goose Pimpling → body hair on end; chills down the spine
• Cold Sweat → Clammy Hands
• Dry mouth
 Fight or Flight Response
• Anticipatory → Triggered the moment the possibility of trouble
is detected
• Allows for immediate & sustained exertion
• Critical for survival
 Summary of function of ANS
• Exerts overall control of function of visceral organs
→ Key contribution to homeostasis
• Produces important adaptations to environmental stimuli
• Level of illumination
• Ambient Temperature
• Stressful, alarming, or dangerous situations
• Proper function necessary for survival
Characteristics of Responses

• Speed of Onset
• Tonic Activity
• Reflex Regulation
Characteristics of Responses: Speed of Onset

• HR can double in 3-5 seconds

• Sweating can occur within a few seconds to a rise in
temperature or in response to fear (cold sweat)
• Goose Pimpling appears in seconds to cold or to threat
• Involuntary emptying of bladder (possibly bowel), when it
occurs, is within seconds
• Marked changes in BP can take place in about 5 secs. A
precipitous fall causes fainting (syncope).
Characteristics of Responses: Tonic Activity

• Basal rate of firing

(sympathetic tone or parasympathetic (vagal) tone)
• Consists of low frequency bursts of APs averaging ∼1Hz
– very different than sensory or somatic motor
• Sets up a baseline level of effector organ activity
• Permits basal activity to be increased or decreased
• Creates a dynamic equilibrium of commands/signals
Characteristics of Responses: Reflex Regulation

• Not under voluntary control

• Reflexes are automatic, stereotyped responses
triggered by specific stimuli
• Sensory stimuli that trigger autonomic reflexes
often do not reach consciousness
• Autonomic reflexes are sensitive to
and altered by emotional state
Anatomical Organization

Somatic Motor Neuron

Alpha Motor Neurons: Wide, myelinated axons

Conduct AP at high speeds (15-50 m/s) at high frequency
Fast, precise control of SKM
Anatomical Organization

Autonomic Neurons

Always two → one myelinated, one unmyelinated, synapsing at

ganglion
Both fine → Conduct APs at low speeds (0.5 m/s) at low f (∼20Hz)
Control of targets slower and much less precise
SNS Anatomy

• Outflow from cord is thoraco-lumbar

(T1-L5)
• Ganglia reside primarily in sympathetic
trunk/chain; three collateral ganglia exist
in abdomen
• Pre-ganglionic axons are comparatively
short; post-ganglionic axons
comparatively long
Sympathetic Chain

• Origination of preganglionic SNS

nerve → intermediolateral
columns of lateral gray
• Exit from cord via ventral root as
myelinated axon
• Ganglia in chain provide
opportunity for preganglionic
axon to synapse upon
postganglionic axon
Sympathetic Chain

• Axon passes through white ramus,

entering the chain
• If synapsing within chain (at same
or different level), exits via gray
ramus as unmyelinated axon
• Chain can be passed through,
synapses then occurring at
collateral (prevertebral) ganglia
(or adrenal medulla)
• Unmyelinated postganglionic
axon travels to effector
SNS Anatomy Characteristics

• Postganglionic neurons are diffusely

distributed to targets and are
unmyelinated
• Cervical ganglia are fused
• Collateral ganglia innervate abdominal
organs and enteric nervous system
• Preganglionic SNS nerves innervate
adrenal medullary chromaffin cells
(modified postganglionic SNS neurons) -
serve as both postganglionic neuron and
effector organ
Divergence

The utility of the sympathetic chain

gives rise to two phenomena →
Divergence and Convergence

Activity initiated preganglionically at

one spinal level can activate multiple
postganglionic neurons several
segmental levels away and hence
distribute over a wider target area.
Convergence

The firing pattern of postganglionic

neurons can also reflect integration of
information from preganglionic inputs
from different spinal levels.
PSNS Anatomy

• Outflow is cranio-sacral, no chain/trunk

• Preganglionic Neurons have long axons;
Postganglionic quite short
• Ratio of pre:post close to 1:1 on average
→ little convergence/divergence
PSNS Anatomy

• Control is highly targeted

• Postganglionic neurons only arranged in
autonomic ganglia in head and enteric
nervous system, close to target organ
• Preganglionic PSNS neurons innervate
enteric nervous system directly - ENS
are the postganglionic neurons
Autonomic Neuroeffector Junction

Connections between somatic motor Autonomic Neuroeffector Junction

neurons and target muscles are quite branches heavily, transmitters stored in
different from ANS innervation of vesicles along axis of neuron
smooth muscle
Fluorescence micrograph of sympathetic innervation of the radial
muscle of the iris of the rat. Varicosities appear as yellow dots.
Autonomic Control

• A few target tissues are under exclusive autonomic control.

Innervation is dense and throughout tissue.
• In most cases, the ANS but modulates spontaneous ongoing
activity of target organs
• Effects can be excitatory or inhibitory, depends upon transmitter,
and receptor subtype. Signaling is mediated by GPCRs.