He nevertheless continued the tradition whereby the ANS is seen as functioning in its own right, with independence from the CNS. Langley noted the absence of sensory (afferent) nerve cell bodies in autonomic ganglia and defined the ANS as a purely motor system. Langley (1852-1925) coined the term autonomic nervous system. Phillipe Pinel, one of the founders of psychiatry, and Bichat’s teacher, even considered mental disease to be caused by abnormal function of these ganglia, and modern psychiatry still refers to 'vegetative functions'. Vegetative life was seen as connected with the passions and independent of education, governed by independently functioning abdominal ganglia, a chain of “little brains”. Bichat (1771-1802) divided life into two distinct forms, one (relational life) governed by the brain, and the other (organic, vegetative, life) by the abdominal ganglia. We have “gut feelings”, the heart is the “seat of love” and we “vent our spleen”. Emotions, visceral rather than rational, were linked with the functions of the internal bodily organs. The brain, locked away in its bony case, was conceived as responsible for rational thought and for ideas that direct behavioral interactions with the external environment. History of the definition and functional conception of the ANSĮmotional feeling has traditionally been seen as distinct from rational thought.

12 Auditory system input to cardiovascular system and cutaneous thermoregulators.

10 Control of accommodation and pupil diameter.

8 Nociceptive visceral afferents (pain from internal organs).

7 Afferent inputs to autonomic pathways.6 Brain and spinal cord pathways regulating autonomic outflow.1 History of the definition and functional conception of the ANS.Indeed, uniquely within the ANS, the enteric plexuses contain primary sensory neurons that connect to extensive networks of interneurons as well as excitatory and inhibitory enteric motor neurons.

Most of the neural pathways in the enteric plexuses lack direct preganglionic inputs and can operate independently of central control. This traditional terminology is confusing and we use the term 'autonomic motoneurons' or 'final motoneurons' for the ganglionic cells.Ĭomplex autonomic ganglia in the walls of the stomach and small intestine are separately classified as the enteric nervous system. The motor neurons in the autonomic ganglia are sometimes referred to as 'postganglionic neurons'. Post-ganglionic axonal processes of motor neurons in the autonomic ganglia innervate organs and tissues throughout the body (eyes, salivary glands, heart, stomach, urinary bladder, blood vessels, etc). In this respect preganglionic autonomic motor neurons are clearly distinguished from somatic motor neurons that project from the CNS directly to the innervated tissue (skeletal muscle), without any intervening ganglia. There are also CNS components of the ANS, including brainstem and spinal autonomic preganglionic neurons that project to the autonomic motor neurons in the peripheral ganglia. Autonomic pathways, together with somatic motor pathways to skeletal muscle and neuroendocrine pathways, are the means whereby the central nervous system (CNS) sends commands to the rest of the body. The term autonomic nervous system (ANS) refers to collections of motor neurons (ganglia) situated in the head, neck, thorax, abdomen, and pelvis, and to the axonal connections of these neurons (Figure 1). Figure drawn by the authors, incorporating material from Gray's Anatomy 31st Edition 1954, and from Cannon and Rosenblueth Physiology of the Autonomic Nervous System, 1937. Figure 1: Summary of sympathetic (A) and parasympathetic (B) autonomic neural outflows from the central nervous system.

Autonomic nervous system lens