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The parasympathetic nervous system promotes digestion and the synthesis of glycogen, and allows for normal function and behavior. Parasympathetic action helps in digestion and absorption of food by increasing the activity of the intestinal musculature, increasing gastric secretion, and relaxing the pyloric sphincter.
Parasympathetic innervation of the heart is partially controlled by the vagus nerve and is shared by the thoracic ganglia. Vagal and spinal ganglionic nerves mediate the lowering of the heart rate. The right vagus branch innervates the sinoatrial node. In healthy people, parasympathetic tone from these sources is well-matched to sympathetic tone.
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.
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In the parasympathetic division, neurons are cholinergic. That is to say acetylcholine is the primary neurotransmitter responsible for the communication between neurons on the parasympathetic pathway. In the sympathetic division, neurons are mostly adrenergic (that is, epinephrine and norepinephrine function as
The ganglion contains postganglionic parasympathetic neurons. These neurons supply the pupillary sphincter muscle, which constricts the pupil, and the ciliary muscle which contracts to make the lens more convex. Both of these muscles are involuntary since they are controlled by the parasympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system.
The division of the autonomic nervous system into sympathetic and parasympathetic pathways is particularly useful from a medical treatment perspective [source]. Jänig et al. warn that changing the classifications of the systems could result in confusion on how to treat some disease, particularly those of the gut and stomach region. [9]
Since the vagus plays such an integral role in the peripheral nervous system via regulation of heart rate, Porges suggests that the amplitude of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) is a good index of parasympathetic nervous system activity via the cardiac vagus. [25]