Autonomic Nervous System

Abstract

The autonomic nervous system (ANS) controls functions of the internal viscera, blood vessels throughout the body, effectors in the skin and glands, in fact all organs except voluntarily controlled striated muscle. Its purpose is to adjust these organs so that their activities are most favorable to their own functions and to the balance of activity of the whole body. To produce these outcomes, the ANS provides motor control of organs through three divisions – the sympathetic, parasympathetic, and enteric divisions. It receives input about the states of individual organs, and of the whole body, through autonomic visceral afferent neurons. It is directed through central nervous system nuclei th..