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Parasympathetic ganglion



Parasympathetic ganglion
Autonomic nervous system innervation, showing the sympathetic and parasympathetic (craniosacral) systems, in red and blue, respectively
Latin ganglion parasympathicum
Dorlands/Elsevier g_02/12384744

Parasympathetic ganglia are the autonomic ganglia of the parasympathetic nervous system. Most are small terminal ganglia or intramural ganglia, so named because they lie near or within (respectively) the organs they innervate. The exceptions are the four paired parasympathetic ganglia of the head and neck.

Parasympathetic ganglia of the head and neck

These paired ganglia supply all parasympathetic innervation to the head and neck.

Roots

Each has three roots entering the ganglion and a variable number of exiting branches.

  • The motor root carries presynaptic parasympathetic nerve fibers (GVE) that terminate in the ganglion by synapsing the postsynaptic fibers traveling to target organs.
  • The sympathetic root carries postsynaptic sympathetic fibers (GVE) that traverse the ganglion without synapsing.
  • The sensory root carries general sensory fibers (GSA) that also do not synapse in the ganglion.

Some ganglia also carry special sensory fibers (SVA) for taste sensation.

Nerves supplying parasympathetic fibers

 
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Parasympathetic_ganglion". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.
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