Locations and innervation of cell bodies of sympathetic neurons projecting to the gastrointestinal tract in the rat

Abstract

The locations of cell bodies of sympathetic neurons projecting to the stomach, the duodenum, the ileum, the colon, the spleen and the pancreas have been studied using retrograde tracing. Projections arose from both pre- and paravertebral ganglia. In the rat, the prevertebral ganglia are the paired coeliac ganglia lying caudo-lateral to the root of the coeliac artery, paired splanchnic ganglia in the abdominal segments of the greater splanchnic nerves, unpaired superior mesenteric and inter-renal ganglia and the inferior mesenteric ganglia. The projections from the prevertebral sympathetic ganglia to the different parts of the gut were organised somatotopically. The most rostral ganglia (spla..