- Title
- Visceral motoneurons
- Creator
- Jobling, Phil
- Relation
- The Mouse Nervous System p. 499-514
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-369497-3.10017-2
- Publisher
- Academic Press
- Resource Type
- book chapter
- Date
- 2012
- Description
- Precise motor control of visceral effector tissues, including exocrine and endocrine glands, vascular and visceral smooth muscle, adipose tissue, and cardiac muscle is essential for survival of the individual and for successful reproduction. These diverse tissue types are controlled by separate anatomical and functional pathways. These “autonomic pathways” can be activated independently or co-activated depending on the specific reflex or environmental challenge encountered. Overarching drives for activation of autonomic pathways are varied but include: adjusting vascular perfusion to tissues according to their specific requirements, maintenance of chemical gradients, energy balance, thermoregulation, and reproductive behaviors. This omits many other autonomic responses such as tear formation and regulation of pupil diameter. Above drives apply to all vertebrates, and to some extent the general anatomical and functional operation of visceromotor pathways are conserved across species. The parasympathetic, sympathetic and enteric divisions of the autonomic nervous system are best understood in the context of their anatomical projections. Peripheral autonomic motor pathways consist of a final central nervous system (CNS) neuron that sends an axon via either cranial or spinal nerves to synapse with a neuron in a peripheral ganglion which innervates the final target. The available data on peripheral autonomic pathways in mice indicates that neurotransmitter phenotype and neuroeffector transmission is broadly similar to that observed in rats and other experimental animals. There are, however, aspects of neuroanatomy, in particular the expression of some chemical markers, which differ, not only between rat and mouse, but between strains of mice. Clearly there is scope for further immunohistochemical and retrograde tracing studies to ascertain which of these differences has any functional significance. Postganglionic autonomic neurons show the same target-related morphological trends as homologous neurons in larger mammals.
- Subject
- autonomic pathways; motoneurons; neuroanatomy
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1302993
- Identifier
- uon:20584
- Identifier
- ISBN:9780123694973
- Language
- eng
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